A textile turn has been happening in contemporary art. Recently, major institutions and biennials have showcased fiber-based works in greater numbers. Exhibitions give testimony to a revaluing of the medium in the visual arts. Witness Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art;[1]Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction;[2] and Radical Textiles.[3]
Exhibition view, Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, Barbican Art Gallery, February 13–May 26, 2024, London, UK, photo: copyright Jemima Yong, Barbican Art Gallery
Art jewelers continue to find inspiration and visual interconnections between the disciplines of jewelry and textiles. This was evident in the recent exhibition Interwoven: Jewellery Meets Textiles[4], and in the works on show in Munich at the March 2025 Handwerk & Design fair. In the Schmuck exhibition, artists such as Jounghye Park, Yumiko Matsunaga, Karina Kazlauskaité, Helen Clara Hemsley, Mette Saabye, Sayaka Ito, Fran Alison, Camilla Prasch, and myself had works that featured textiles.
Exhibition view, Interwoven: Jewellery Meets Textiles, Goldsmiths’ Centre, London, January 9–April 3, 2025, photo copyright Julia Skupny, The Goldsmiths’ Centre, London
In the surrounding Frame area, galleries such as Platina showcased textile-based works by Catarina Silver, Helena Lehtinen, and Sébastien Carré, among others. Anke Hennig was among the exhibitors in the hall—and the list goes on.
It seems timely to unpack why so much current work expands the toolbox of textile techniques while also drawing on textiles’ rich history, materiality, and conceptual depth. What are contemporary makers saying by working at this intersection?
(Left) Helen Clara Hemsley, It Didn’t Work, 2024 neckpiece in nylon fabric, cotton fabric, fabric pen, batting, thread, leather, 13 ¾ x 7 ⅛ x ⅜ inches (350 x 180 x 10 mm), photo: James Bates Photography, (right) Mette Saabye, Spring Comes Running, 2025, necklace in cotton fabric, embroidery, glass beads, snap buttons, sewing thread, photo: Dorte Krogh. These pieces are a pair, part of the artists’ ongoing project called Complementing Reality
The many inspiring jewelers working in the interconnecting space where jewelry meets textiles build on the legacy of those who explored textiles before them. Like their predecessors, some are drawn to the materiality of fiber; others to the possibilities that arise when textile techniques are pushed in new directions. Many are inspired by the medium’s visual qualities, conceptual richness, and emotional resonance. Some hold deep multifaceted relationships with textiles.
Jewelry and textiles are powerful vehicles for two key purposes: storytelling (by holding memories and commemorating events) and driving engagement with contemporary issues.
Vicki Mason, The Idiosyncratic Acacia (two views), 2023, necklace in powder-coated brass, silk, hemp, linen, textile ink, cotton, 15 x 11 ¾ x 1 inches (380 x 300 x 24 mm), reversed 17 ¾ x 16 ⅛ x 1 inches (450 x 410 x 24 mm), photo courtesy of the artist
Perhaps the current focus on fibers is partly because society is grappling with issues such as fast extractive habits and a lack of respect for resources and the environment. This combines with a consumer culture built on mass overproduction and disposability. The use of textile techniques and materials in art jewelry gives a counterpoint to that way of living and consuming. In the hands of artists, fiber-based materials and processes foreground slowness, care, repair, reuse, and sustainability. They declare the importance of the handmade as an act of resistance to mass production.
A spread from the book Monumentaal en Dichtbij (Monumental and Close By), showing the works (left) Draagbaar Object (Wearable Object), 1985, and (right) Schouderstuk (Shoulder Piece), 1984, by Lam de Wolf, photo: Liesbeth den Besten, with permission from the publisher. Original photos: Hogers & Versluys
Furthermore, people are suffering from digital overload. Constant digital engagement pulls people away from shared physical experiences, resulting in social fragmentation. By contrast, textiles and textile techniques connect us to one another. They slow us down, mark time, and offer warmth, softness, and comfort. People handle textiles and speak about them. They learn about fiber processes by doing. Jewelry made with fibers offers something tactile and grounded in the body rather than the screen. Maybe that’s why textiles are having a moment in jewelry.
Arline Fisch, Silver/Pearl Cosmos, 2005, collar, fine silver, sterling silver, pearls, crochet and hairpin lace, 9 x 9 x 5 ½ inches (229 x 229 x 140 mm), photo courtesy of Mobilia Gallery
Jewelers working today in the textile arena are building on the work of pioneering studio jewelers of the 1970s and 1980s. Artists like Marion Herbst, Lam de Wolf, Marjorie Schick, Caroline Broadhead, David Poston, and Arline Fisch—to name just a few—sought to work beyond the perceived restrictions of metal. They were interested in exploring color, softness, fluidity, and the expressive potential of fiber.
Felieke van der Leest, Foxy Phantom, 2023, necklace in crocheted textile, plastic animal, silver, cubic zirconia, 10 ⅝ x 5 ½ x 1 ⅝ inches (270 x 140 x 40 mm), edition of three, photo: Eddo Hartmann. The photo on the right shows the underside of the crocheted “cape” and “skirt,” with an embroidered signature
This legacy continues in the work of artists including Giovanni Corvaja, Esther Knobel, Daniel Kruger, Lucy Sarneel, Iris Eichenberg, Felieke van der Leest, and Nora Fok. They and many others are drawn to textile processes, materials, and concepts that expand the language of jewelry.
Daniel Kruger, Pendant, 2020, crocheted linen/cotton/polyester, bone, plastic beads filling, 11 ⅜ inches (290 mm) long, photo: artist
Formative experiences with textiles
For many makers, early encounters with textile techniques and materials are rooted in childhood experiences. As kids, for example, they watched others sew, knit, crochet, or embroider, and some learned these techniques while they were young. Others learned the processes themselves later in life. In both cases, understanding how materials and techniques work in this discipline became foundational. Textiles hold memory and meaning. The materials carry deep formative associations with touch, vulnerability, and the rhythms of everyday life.
Lisa Walker has made things from textiles since she was a child, and continues to do so. As she moved beyond her goldsmithing training, textiles were one of many materials she collected and began working with. Now textiles and textile processes are central to her practice. Walker has recently worked more intensively with embroidery and hand stitching, in a move away from the found objects she worked with for so many years. | Lisa Walker, Upside Down Gourds Hue as Eyes 6, 2025, neckpiece in linen, acrylic paint, thread, lacquer, stuffing, wood, hematite, 6 ¾ x 5 ⅛ x 1 inches (170 x 130 x 25 mm), photo: artistSébastian Carré came to textiles to help him cope with a physical ailment. The repetitive process of crochet and beadwork felt therapeutic. Textiles also serve as a link to family, to the women who taught him these and other techniques as a child. | Sébastien Carré, from the From Mitchell to Carré series, 2025, necklace in beads, jasper thread, nylon, 9 ½ x 8 ¼ x ⅛ inches (240 x 210 x 4 mm), photo: Milo LeeJuan Harnie’s Mend series uses fabric handkerchiefs to speak about the body but also about family, adoption, and the love and gratitude he feels toward his adoptive parents. Stitching and patchwork were part of Harnie’s childhood. He sometimes helped mend worn clothes with his mother. In this shared experience, care, patience, and repair were symbols of love. | Juan Harnie, Mend 35, 2024, necklace in handkerchiefs, sewing thread, 13 ¾ x 13 ¾ x ¼ inches (350 x 350 x 5 mm), photo: artist, 2024Caitlin Murphy weaves metal in unique ways. Her woven metal strip constructions create optical illusions and rhythmic patterns. Influenced by the chairs with woven seats in her childhood home, Murphy appropriates textile logic to push metalworking into new arenas. | Caitlin Murphy, Alpha Brooch, 2024, in 18-karat yellow, green and red gold, niobium, 1 ⅝ x 1 ⅝ inches (40 x 40 mm), photo: Todd White Art Photography
Accumulation, recycling, and industry waste Today’s jewelers don’t only revisit textile techniques. They reimagine them in response to contemporary concerns. A significant number of artists work with salvaged fabrics, wools, cords, threads, and haberdashery items. The need to collect materials is part of many makers’ DNA. Juan Harnie receives many of his handkerchiefs as gifts but also buys some new and from second-hand stores. Other jewelry artists bring new purpose to preloved and discarded fabrics.
Exchange and trade converged in Fran Allison’s Change/Exchange project, which brought the humble T-shirt to life in jewelry form. For this artist, clothing is heavily imbued with embedded meaning, and adding further layers is satisfying. “Clothing is not so far from jewelry,” she notes. | Fran Allison, Value Added—30 Hours, 2024, necklace in 25 donated T-shirt remnants, 438 ⅛ x 0.1 x 1 ⅛ inches (1113 x 0.2 x 2.8 cm), photo: Allan McDonaldThe space between fashion and jewelry is also of interest to Camilla Prasch, who makes work from second-hand clothes. It’s partly a response to wanting to be more sustainable in her practice. But she also aims to challenge how jewelry is perceived by using materials, construction methods, and techniques that sit outside conventional readings of what jewelry is. | Camilla Prasch, Necklace, 2016, in leftovers from clothes manufacturing: wool, cotton, polyester, silk, 29 ½ x 10 ⅝ x ¾ inches (750 x 270 x 20 mm), photo: Søren NielsenFlea markets are treasure troves for Helena Lehtinen, who saves unwanted handmade cross-stitched items to rework. These lovingly stitched pieces represent “unseen women’s work” that is deeply meaningful, says the artist. Made to beautify homes, they hold memories of times and places unknown, and reflect societal versions of domestic beauty. She adorns her soft collars and scapular-like neckpieces with ornamental hand-stitched bead work. This process mirrors the slow crafting of the original cross-stitched pieces. Her jewelry’s attention honors women’s labor that might otherwise be forgotten. | Helena Lehtinen, Untitled, 2024, necklace in vintage textile, glass beads, knitted wool, 29 ½ x 7 ⅞ x ¾ inches (750 x 200 x 20 mm), photo: Johanne WileniusNga Ching Ko’s Replay series is driven by environmental concerns. Alarmed by the enormous production and disposal of clothing, she sources textile materials from dumps and second-hand stores. Using the Japanese Kimekomi technique, in which fabrics are tucked into carved wooden forms, she gives new life to old clothes, imbuing them with fresh meaning. | Nga Ching Ko, Daisy Turtle, 2024, brooch in polyester, wood, jade, silver, stainless steel, 4 ½ x 3 x ¾ inches (115 x 75 x 20 mm), photo: artist, 2024Jounghye Park compresses and carves scraps of discarded fabric in her Saves series, arguing that what we perceive to be useless is, in creative hands, capable of becoming useful. | Jounghye Park, Saves 4, 2023, in hand-dyed silk, sterling silver, (190 x 88 x 30 mm), photo courtesy of the artist
Innovation via technique and material
Textile techniques are being reimagined in jewelry through experimentation and material innovation. For example, recent advances in digital weaving, 3D knitting, and hybrid hand/digital processes offer jewelry artists new ways to translate textile structures into wearable form. At the same time, emerging materials ranging from bio‑based fibers to conductive yarns expand what textile‑informed jewelry can express both visually and conceptually. The creative possibilities open to artists who look at pre-existing materials laterally or with experimental intent offer rich veins of discovery.
Michaela Pegum pushes boundaries by electroforming velvet, silk, organza, and other fabrics, combining metal and textiles into new hybrid materials. Her work explores thresholds, states of suspension, and material tensions. Intricately hand-sewn textiles meld with elemental copper to create forms that are not purely textile nor metal, but something entirely new. | Michaela Pegum, Subtle Body I, 2018, neckpiece in silk organza, copper, bamboo, 18 ⅞ x 16 ½ x 1 ⅜ inches (480 x 420 x 35 mm), photo: Pia JohnsonHealim Shin’s work explores a different approach to painting on canvas. Her linen brooches are deceptively simple accumulations of thin strips of fabric rolled together. Paint enriches the canvas edges on view, creating colorful voids for the eye to travel down. These seductive painterly images, with their serpentine lines, reinvent a fine art. The edge of the fabric—not its formerly vast two-dimensional surface—is the point of interest. | Healim Shin, Rain Drops 3, 2017, brooch, linen, silver, lacquer, ottchil (Korean lacquer), collection of Smyckoteket, the contemporary jewelry-lending program of the Rian Design Museum, Falkenberg, Sweden, photo: IDNAMADIYong Joo Kim creates both expressively poetic and visually engaging jewelry using Velcro. She cuts and dyes the flexible hook-and-loop fastening system to create layered sculptural works embedded with a mercurial sense of movement. | Yong Joo Kim, necklace in hook-and-loop fastener tape, photo: artistMariko Kusumoto explores fabric’s inherent characteristics and beauty. Using a proprietary heat-setting technique to work polyester gives the fabric a new identity, enabling her to reshape it into three-dimensional forms. | Mariko Kusumoto, Red Coral, 2022, brooch in polyester fabric, 5 x 5 x 2 inches (127 x 127 x 51 mm), photo: artistRoxanne van Beveren, a recent graduate, 3D prints on tulle fabric to make armor for the modern woman. Advancements in material science and technology open new possibilities to explore the interconnections between jewelry and textiles. The work pushes the boundaries of scale, wearability, structure, and concept. | Roxanne van Beveren, (left) 3D-printed headpiece in eight layers of 3D-printing with tulle mesh sandwiched between, total thickness approximately ⅛ inch (2 mm), circumference approximately 21 ½ inches (55 cm), (right) shoulder covers in 3d-printed PLA, tulle mesh, 7 ⅛ inches (180 mm) x 5 ⅛ inches (130 mm) in circumference, photos: Chris Bowes
Cultural identity and traditional techniques
Textiles can serve as a powerful medium for exploring cultural identity and keeping traditional techniques alive. Jewelry artists use textile processes to navigate cultural narratives, often blending ancestral techniques with contemporary concerns. Their work is a form of cultural continuity—keeping traditions alive while adapting them to new contexts.
Jane Sedgwick has always loved brushes. She has collected them since childhood. Sedgwick employs the age-old technique of brush-making in her textile and wooden jewels, using reclaimed sewing thread instead of plant fibers or animal hair. These threads, some inherited from her mother, replace prickly textures with softness, a tactile experience that surprises and delights viewers and wearers. | Jane Sedgwick, Forget-Me-(Knot), 2022, brooch in sycamore wood, sewing thread, linen thread, stainless steel, 2 ¾ x 2 ¾ x 1 ⅝ inches (70 x 70 x 40 mm), photo: Simon B ArmittRowan Panther makes delicate but robust lace from New Zealand flax, preserving a highly skilled technique in works that speak about time, identity, and colonial history. Panther works her exquisite bobbin lace into materials such as mother-of-pearl and silver. Melding these materials speaks to both her European heritage, with its traditions of lacemaking, while also acknowledging and honoring her Samoan lineage with Pacific motifs and forms. Her work often echoes the forms of breastplates worn by chiefs. Panther’s jewelry intertwines craft narratives with colonial narratives to tell new stories about her place in the world. | Rowan Panther, My Mother Was a Wulf, Now I’m a Panther, 2024, in Muka fiber, Parau shell, sterling silver, photo: artistMina Kang is singular in her pursuit of exploring the formal possibilities of Korean ramie fabric, which she has worked with since childhood. Her hand-stitched sculptural jewels take advantage of the qualities of this stiff structural fabric. | Mina Kang, Classic Series 2, 2021, necklace in ramie fabric, 20 x 8 ¼ x 2 ¾ inches (510 x 210 x 70 mm), photo courtesy of the artistAnke Hennig has transformed a traditional German textile technique called Häkelgalon. She uses the 19th-century braiding technique and a variety of threads and filaments to make ethereal jewelry. | Anke Hennig, Hybrid III Turquoise, necklace in filaments, photo courtesy of the artist
Mimicking fabrics
Some artists explore the enticing qualities of fabric and metal working to echo the character of textiles and haberdashery items.
In his threadlike metal constructions, Andrew Lamb recalls the rhythmic qualities of fabric. His laser-welded wirework jewelry often references the visual qualities of repetitive patterning found in stitched or woven textile surfaces. Moiré effects, an animated sense of movement, and color shifts expressed in metal echo his interest in the visual attractiveness inherent in textiles. | Andrew Lamb, Plaid Brooch, Lenticular Series, 2012, in 18-karat yellow and white gold, silver, platinum, 24-karat gold, 1 ⅝ inches (40 mm) in diameter, photo: Graham ClarkJoanna Campbell makes metal jewelry that echoes ribbons in her anodized aluminum bangles that soak up dye like fabric. She also mimics sequins in stone and metal. In Campbell’s workshop, the characteristics of sewing notions and fabric are rendered elegantly in metal and other materials. | Joanna Campbell, Ribbon Bangles, 2015, in anodized aluminum, ¾ x 1 ⅝ x 2 ½ inches (20 x 40 x 65 mm), 2 ¾ inches (70 mm) in diameter, photo: artist
Conclusion Textiles as a medium will continue on as another material in the jeweler’s repertoire of materials, just as fiber-based techniques and their visual qualities will persist as arenas for exploration and boundary-pushing. Together these intertwined practices will keep expanding the conceptual and technical boundaries of contemporary adornment and the interconnecting space where jewelry meets textiles. How this relationship evolves and where it leads next will no doubt bring forth work that continues to be content-rich and visually exciting.
References Barry, Ramona, and Beck Jobson, Textiles x Art: How Textiles Are Shaping Contemporary Art. Victoria: Thames and Hudson, 2025.
Brennan, Anne, Julie Ewington, and Blake Griffiths, guest eds. Art Monthly Australia: The Textiles Issue, 339 (Winter 2024).
den Besten, Liesbeth. “Everything Is Already: Remembering Lam de Wolf (1949–2025).” Art Jewelry Forum. https://artjewelryforum.org/articles/everything-is-already_remembrance_lam-de-wolf_natl-netherlands_auth-liesbeth-den-besten_authnatl-netherlands_7-7-2027/.
den Besten, Liesbeth. On Jewellery: A Compendium of International Contemporary Art Jewellery. Stuttgart: Arnoldsche Art Publishers, 2011.
Dew, Charlotte, Gregory Parsons, and Erin Sleeper, eds. Interwoven: Jewellery Meets Textiles. London: The Goldsmiths’ Centre, 2025.
[1]Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, February 13–May 26, 2024, at Barbican, in London.
[2]Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, April 20–September 13, 2025, at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City.
[3]Radical Textiles, November 23, 2024–March 30, 2025, at Art Gallery of South Australia, in Adelaide, Australia.
[4]Interwoven: Jewellery Meets Textiles, January 9–April 3, 2025, at Goldsmiths’ Centre, in London.
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Vicki Mason has been wearing jewelry since she was two and making it since she was six or seven. Born in New Zealand, she lives and works in Melbourne, Australia. Mason completed her undergraduate studies in New Zealand, and her master’s degree (research) in Australia, at ANU. Making jewelry fulfills a need she has to create objects that can be worn, that hold special meanings. For Vicki, jewelry has the capacity to provoke a viewer to respond or interact with a worn jewel, and therefore the wearer. A dialogue is opened up—jewelry then acts not only as a portable tool for the communication of ideas, but as a social object. Photo: Claire Norcross
