Christine Brimmer
Our speaker in September was Christine Brimmer, an extraordinary weaver who specialises in sustainable practices and uses undyed New Zealand wool as much as possible. Her work is beautiful, detailed and, for me personally, inspires deep emotions. She is a one woman band with her company Niche Textiles Studio, and sells direct and through interior designers.
She spoke about how light and shadow is important, especially in her largest piece -a stunning blanket. The wool used for this piece is the darkest it can be before losing visibility of the textures. Drawing inspiration from nature, hills especially, Christine is able to design and bring to life her concepts. She will often do some test pieces and determine the length of time it will take her to make a piece. She’ll then make a run of items in a row, making 10 blankets over a period of months for example.
Weaving isn’t all business though. There is plenty of opportunity for play, such as experimenting with the natural twist of the fibre to make baskets and long twisting pieces. She’s also made pieces for exhibitions, from panels to bedding which can be seen on her website. She also teaches classes on the basics of wool, and setting up looms. Zoom classes has been a interesting challenge to get used to over the past few years as physically helping is out of the question. These new challenges keep her on her toes and constantly learning new skills.
Despite being a town girl, Christine has spent a lot of time speaking to farmers and learning about the practices of wool and sheep farming. She is always interested to know more to better appreciate this art medium. Wool is wonderful for its moisture wicking properties -something that used to be well used in wool carpeting.
Part of being sustainable is using as much as possible. Undyed wool can be composted very successfully, and Christine makes braids from other leftovers which are used for a large variety of purposes.
We also had a wonderful show and tell this meeting!
