Laugh and Hail bag by Louisa Loakes
£65.00
Naturally dyed & Hand Block Printed Bag by Louisa Loakes
Louisa’s work blends elements from her fine art practice and her intuitive approach to textiles. During her time studying at Wimbledon School of Art, Louisa developed a particular interest in Abstract painting, which continues to ground and guide her work across a range of mediums.
"It was important to me that these bags were printed using natural dyes and onto beautifully soft and strong organic cotton. I have working closely with printers (Chippas) in Rajasthan, India where a very small quantity of these bags have been hand block printed. Jaipur is somewhere I have spent time over the years and is close to my heart and is one of the main areas in India which still prints using the traditional block printing process."
The process. Block printing is a technique that involves transferring designs and patterns onto fabric. A block is covered in dye this is then pressed onto the fabric - this can be then repeated over the entire surface of the fabric to create a pattern repeat.
The dyes. Traditional colours used in Indian block printing. Natural Madder (Aal) Iron (Syahi) and Harda. Rubia tinctorum, or dyer's madder has been used since ancient times as a vegetable red dye.
The Material. Hand block Printed using natural dyes, Madder and Iron, onto 100% Organic Cotton
Fully Lined. Using naturally dyed 100% organic cotton using an Iron dye.
Working from her studio in Peckham, Louisa’s practice is focused on the beautifully simple, slow art of hand-carved block printing. Having spent many years researching the craft, she draws particular inspiration from the processes involved in traditional Indian block printing, and her practice interweaves Eastern folk art traditions with forms and patterns familiar to western languages of abstraction. As a self-taught block printer, she approaches fabric like a painting - or one of her charcoal drawings - creating delicate, twisting patterns that repeat themselves across its surface. Distinctive in their simple use of geometric form, monochromatic palette and signature dash of hand-painted colour, Louisa’s hand-carved block printed patterns are charged with a human touch, the irregularities that appear in the printing process giving each piece a distinct energy and identity.