Weaving Workshop with Christabel Balfour

Weave your way through our Brutalist architecture and get inspired as you learn the techniques of hand-weaving in Christabel Balfour's weaving workshops.

To coincide with the opening of Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art in the Art Gallery, Christabel will be leading a series of tapestry weaving workshops inspired by the Barbican. These four-hour classes cover the basics of hand-weaving before building up to more advanced techniques. Participants will learn how to set up and warp their looms, create a fringe for their wall-hanging, and start weaving. They will then move on to building shapes, blending colours and creating texture with soumak and rya knotting.

Throughout the class participants will be encouraged to draw on the Barbican itself for inspiration, from the texture of the concrete, the geometric motifs of the architecture and even the light, sound and qualities of the space around them.

Tagged with: Art & design Talks & events Tours & public spaces

All materials are provided
No experience required
Workshop duration: 4 hours
Maximum capacity: 10

All materials are provided, including a large selection of wools and yarns. Each person will receive their own handmade loom, weaving tools and instruction booklet to take home, along with plenty of wool to keep weaving with.

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About the maker

Christabel Balfour is an artist and tapestry weaver based in East London.

Her work explores the intricate and tactile qualities of weaving itself, as well as the connections between tapestry, landscape, storytelling and language. She works on several large floor looms, as well as simple looms she builds herself. Since setting up her practice in 2015 she has worked with numerous private clients and interior designers to produce bespoke tapestries and rugs.

Her work has been featured in the Guardian, the New York Times and profiled by the Modern House. In 2020 she founded Balfour & Co Weaving School to share her skills with a wider audience.

www.christabelbalfour.com

Discover

photo of tapestry weaver christy balfour weaving in her studio

How to: weaving with Christabel Balfour

In the first of our series of 'How to' workshops focussing on traditional crafts, tapestry weaver Christabel Balfour invites us in her South London studio for a weaving demonstration.