Women's Work

The panel is hand-woven using Japanese glass beads, strung on waxed nylon thread, in a deep scarlet that borrows its name and its story from Kermes, Europe's original red, made for centuries from insects hand-harvested off oak branches by workers history rarely bothered to name. For a long time, naturalists assumed the source was a berry rather than an insect, and assumed the labour behind it too; a dye so prized it gave the world the word "crimson," produced by hands nobody wrote down. It felt like the right red for this piece, and the right story to carry inside it.

The text sits inside a classic sampler border: the small diamond and floral motifs that generations of women and girls learned needlework through, often the only formal education many were ever given. Samplers were practice pieces, meant to be discarded once the skill was proven, rarely signed, rarely kept. 

Set in a hand-painted oval tray, repurposed here as a frame, with a hanger fitted on the back. No men were consulted in the making of this piece; it came out fine anyway.

Set in a hand-painted oval tray, repurposed here as a frame, with a hanger fitted on the back. An original design, woven slowly by hand.

• Frame dimensions: 24 cm (W) × 14.5 cm (H)
• Beaded panel size: 17 cm (W) × 8.3 cm (H)
• Display: wall-hanging, hanger fitted on back
• Materials: Japanese glass beads, waxed nylon thread, hand-painted wood tray/frame