Written and photographed by Kalie Ilana Cassel-Feiss Carol Lee Shanks has been creating unique sculptural clothing and wearable art since 1983. She curates thoughtful and intimate spaces for people to enter her world within her studio and showroom by appointment, or whenever she debuts a new collection. In a two-story building on a quiet road […]
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Exploring the Tactility of Color with BioHue
Written and photographed by Sarah Lillegard. Mid-morning light comes through a window in Judi Pettite’s studio, casting a glow on the boxes of fabric and paintings in progress. Pinned to one of the walls is an installation of dyed coffee filters, the grid of them making a spectrum of color. With a closer look, each […]
Read MoreHolding Space for Creativity at Fiber Circle Studio
Written by Amanda Fisk and photographed by Noelle Gaberman, except as noted. Tucked into the Sonoma County town of Cotati, Fiber Circle Studio is a haven of experience in the fiber arts, and a space for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding. A place where anyone can come to learn or explore the world of […]
Read MoreSoft Steps & Solid Heart at Rhoby’s Ranch
Written by Marie Hoff & Photographed by Paige Green “I keep getting interested. There keeps being more to learn, so I get more interested, and learn more, and the more I learn, the more I keep getting interested,” muses Rhoby Cook of Rhoby’s Ranch. Surrounded by oak and conifer trees, tucked in a valley of […]
Read MoreShifting the Impact of our Clothing: Tips from the Fibershed Community
Written by Jess Daniels with photography by Paige Green and infographics created by Fibershed The latest large-scale assessment of the systems and supply chains that get us dressed reveals that the fashion industry’s sustainability efforts have “slowed by a third in the past year” and overall are “not moving fast enough to counterbalance the harmful […]
Read MoreWeaving as a Way of Life at Oakland Fiber
Written & Photographed by Kalie Ilana Cassel-Feiss By the time Sheng Lor was old enough to go to school, she already knew how to embroider. Born into the Hmong culture of Laos, the Oakland Fiber founder grew up within a culture that sees sewing, indigo batik and dying, and the intricacy of embroidery as highly […]
Read MoreAll of Her Own Making: Designer and Fiber Artist Keyaira Terry
Written by Sasha Wirth and photographed by Paige Green Bark, seaweed, and dried artichokes might not seem like typical materials to pair with soft tufts of wool, but in the hands of designer Keyaira Marie Terry, they become transformed, coming together naturally in her modern fiber art and woven goods. “My pieces are tactile. They […]
Read MoreA Family History in Hats
Written by Kalie Ilana Cassel-Feiss and Carol Frechette; Photography by Kalie Ilana Cassel-Feiss, Lowell Downey and Paige Green Photo by Kalie Ilana Cassel-Feiss In the early 1980s, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in the small water-flanked town of Sausalito, lived Carol Frechette. There she lived and worked on boats, working with a sailmaker. Eventually […]
Read MorePatterns & Passions at Pont Family Farm
Written by Marie Hoff & Photographed by Noelle Gaberman The Fibonacci Sequence is an enchanting and mythic mathematical pattern. You might be familiar with it. Starting with 0, each number in the sequence is the sum of the two numbers before … so 0,1 and then 0+1, which is 1. So 0,1,1, and then 1+1, […]
Read MoreTallow: Summer Solace’s Food for the Skin
Written by Sasha Wirth & Photographed by Paige Green On a busy street in North Oakland, nestled beside an old-school barbershop and a deli selling everything from donuts to Chinese food, stands a green converted storefront. At first glance, it appears to be just another commercial space, perhaps even a warehouse. But past the metal […]
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