Interior Design: 5 Artists Redefining Classic Techniques and Materials
I was so humbled to be included in Interior Design's "5 Artists Redefining Classic Techniques and Materials"
Lauren Williams with one of her fiber works. Photography by Elizabeth Lavin.
When former event designer Lauren Williams moved with her husband and new baby into a charmless Dallas rental with a very large and ugly dining room wall, she didn't know how she would cope. It needed a great work of art, she determined. Although Williams lacked an art budget, she did have an idea for "a kind of tapestry" to fill the offending blank space. So she headed to Home Depot to make it herself. After patiently attaching hundreds of yarn strands to a wooden dowel, she dyed them in the backyard. Delighted with her creation, she posted her "canvas with movement" on Instagram to show family and friends.
To her great surprise, each wanted one too. Now she has a thriving business--built almost entirely through social media--that also includes pillows and throws. These days though, the Home Depot dowels have been exchanged for custom-made walnut versions and her yarn is sourced from a Wyoming sheep ranch and spun to her specifications at a nearby mill. Williams' latest offering: high resolution digital prints of her most popular fiber works, reproduced on archival cotton rag paper: "It looks like you can touch the strands," she says.
