Images: Margo Selby + The Modest Travellers + Luke J Albert Photography
Margo Selby is a renowned British textile artist and designer. Her design philosophy is focused on pushing the boundaries of weaving to create contemporary stylish fabrics for a range of textile applications, uniting the very best weavers and high quality fibers to produce beautifully crafted products.
BACKGROUND
Margo trained in textile design at Chelsea College of Art and Design and then followed this with a postgraduate degree at The Royal College of Art, graduating in 2001. Margo initially worked as a woven textile designer for industrial mills. It was during this time she united her innovative handwoven constructions with industrial machinery to create the unique 3-dimensional fabrics that were to become the trademark of the Margo Selby Brand.
Margo’s expertise in weaving is central to all her product development. Although the design process begins with handwoven textile concepts, 16 years of designing for Jacquard woven textiles has honed Margo’s understanding of graphic design. An ongoing fascination with mathematics is revealed in both the precise geometric pattern making and the systematised process of weaving.
Margo Selby textiles are found the world over. In addition to her fabrics and textile products, Margo is a celebrated artist and conducts weaving workshops and design talks.
WEAVING STUDIO
Located in the British coastal town of Whitstable, the Margo Selby weaving studio features a diverse range of looms including a 24-shaft Arm loom on which much of our development work is done.
This process of starting with hand produced samples is part of Margo’s ethos of ‘art into industry’ championing the craft of the hand-weaver alongside the skill and expertise of industrial mills.
ARTIST
Margo Selby is a celebrated textile artist, creating distinctive handwoven artworks which unite a modernist aesthetic with the depth and texture that is inherent in woven textiles.
Individually handwoven in Margo’s Whitstable studio the artworks are created using a technique called Lampas. Lampas was initially developed in the 17th century to weave decorative brocade fabrics. Margo is now using these weave structures in a new way to create abstract colour studies with a modernist feel.
‘I’m interested in the relationship between man and machine, hand and industry, craft and technology. The disciplined nature of weaving provides limitations and constraints which can be pushed against. The orderly nature of the craft of weaving is reflected in the systematised designs.’
COLLABORATOR
Having established her company in 2003, Margo Selby has collaborated with a range of creative partners, design houses, art institutions and retailers including; Tate Galleries, the British Museum, Fine Cell Work, Royal Opera House, London Transport Museum, Habitat, John Lewis, West Elm, Alternative Flooring, Decca Furniture and Casa Bothelo.
Margo has designed two fabric collections for the British fabric and wallpaper manufacturer Osborne and Little.
WEAVING WORKSHOPS
Concurrent to her art practice and textile business, Margo offers creative weaving and loom set-up workshops from both her whitstable studio on the kent coast and through selected creative institutions.
These workshops are suitable for all levels from complete beginners through to advance weavers who may want to look at their work with a fresh approach or learn a new technique.