Books to inspire you
Books to inspire you
I want to share with you a couple of my favorite reads of the summer that I’m sure will speak to any creativity and textile fans here!
I first heard about this book from an interview with the author on the podcast 99% invisible, the stories she told about the world of colors immediately drew me in.
As a designer I felt I had a special appreciation for colors. It turns out that before we could get synthetic pigments at the snap of a finger, the search for new colors truly shaped the world politically, economically and geographically.
Colors were powerful, precious and even dangerous. Kassia St Clair brilliantly narrates the stories behind 76 of the most influential shades. It’s a delightful and easy to read book, The Secret Lives of Color even has its own instagram!
Threads of Life:
A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle
by Clare Hunter
I actually heard of this book in a pretty unconventional way: the embroidery artist duo Maricor/Maricar shared the commission they designed for the cover on instagram.
Threads of Life retraces events through History when embroidery and textile art played an important role. The first chapter about the tapestry of Bayeux was not my favorite personally but I'm so glad I continued reading because so many of the stories are truly moving, tales of therapy and reinsertion through embroidery for veterans of war, quilting as an act of resistance in a POW camp in Singapore and secret coded messages smuggled out of captivity on tapestries.
Clare Hunter shows the powerful role needlework has played throughout History in tales of protest, loss, identity and community.
Read any good books lately? Share them in the comments below at the bottom of the page!