Specialist: Louise Tucker
Emily Tobin visits the designer in her Welsh studio, where she hand-weaves maple and walnut to craft unique basketry lights.
People often tell me my lights remind them of Tahiti or Malaysia,' says Louise Tucker. But on the day that I visit her studio in Pentyrch, just west of Cardiff, I could not feel further away from the tropics. Pounding rain and gale-force winds have closed most of the railway tracks in and out of Wales; the sky is a furious grey and the lane leading to the converted chapel where Louise works is littered with upturned bins and tree branches. Truthfully, it is all rather bleak.
However, once inside Louise's small, neat workshop, I can see what her clients mean. Her elegant maple and walnut lights do evoke warmer climes. Hand-woven using long strips of wood, they have organic, almost fluid shapes reminiscent of Indonesian basketry. The maple is blonde and through the latticework the suffused light glows orange. The collection is titled Pren - Welsh for wood.
Although Louise was born and raised in Wales, her path to weaving lights in Pentyrch has been both circuitous and peripatetic. She studied textile __design at the University of Huddersfield, which she chose because 'it looked like a factory and I wanted to work in industry'. She spent her third year shivering her way through a student-exchange placement in Finland: 'It was so cold that I made a series of scarves inspired by Scott's Antarctic journey.' This was followed by a job working as a jacquard weaver in India, an experience that enabled her to experiment and test new designs - and in doing so, gain an understanding of the materials and yarns.
Next came a residency on the Shetland Islands. 'I don't think I saw more than seven people in my first six weeks,' she recalls. To combat the solitude, Louise looked to the rugged landscape for inspiration. 'I started to teach myself basketry using the local grasses and I've been weaving ever since.' An MA in textiles at the Chelsea College of Arts consolidated her experiences and, in 2013, like many makers, she was priced out of London and returned home to set up her own studio.
'As a child, I would spend hours watching clouds move across the sky,' she says. 'I've always been fascinated by patterns, lines and shadows, but most of all I love the feel of fabrics and materials.' This sensory element is central to Louise's work. She uses no tools, just her hands: measurements are mapped using the span of her fingers, while hugging or stretching the lights moulds their form. It sometimes involves the diminutive Louise clambering inside her creations, which can be a metre in diameter, to manipulate their shapes.
When she first began weaving, she would make paper models to test different techniques, but now her approach to the process is instinctive. Lengths of maple or walnut are plaited together and interlaced to form orbs and cylinders; densely woven at the centre, they gradually loosen as the form spreads. They are reminiscent of undulating sea creatures and, when the switch is flicked on, they take on a new life as delicate shadows tessellate across every surface of the room.
Funding from the Arts Council of Wales enabled her to develop a collection and show at Tent London in 2013, nine months after setting up her studio. Two years later, she was one of University of the Arts London's Seed Fund winners - an initiative that helps to support young creatives - and exhibited at __design Junction. Louise hunts out these schemes and, with their help, her company has become a business that exports around the globe. Her pieces have also been purchased by big-name clients like the interior-design firm Studio Reed.
Louise has recently taken on a mentor through the government scheme Business Wales - someone to help sound out some of the trickier decisions as the business expands. She says, 'I want to make it count,' and I suspect that with her combined creativity and savvy outlook, she will do just that. She also hopes to develop several new collections using different materials. Next up is metal, which will not only provide a welcome respite from the endless splinters, but also afford her the opportunity to push her captivation with form and material even further.
Louise Tucker: 07712-587370; louisetucker.net
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