Sussy Cazalet’s exhibition shows the beauty of modern tapestry

This week sees the opening of Collect, the modern art fair that begins its yearly residency at Somerset House (our round-up of highlights will land soon!), but it is not the only hot ticket in town for fans of contemporary craft. There’s also Sussy Cazalet’s second solo exhibition at Tristan Hoare Gallery.

Sussy Cazalet with one of the works from new show ‘Ascendance’

Named ‘Ascendance’, the show includes fourteen handwoven tapestries that are produced using traditional techniques – woven on a flat loom using natural fibres and organic hand-mixed dyes – but demonstrate a modern sensibility for the medium. Cazalet, who studied printed textiles before completing a BA in Interior Architecture at Parsons School of Design in New York is now based between London and Norfolk. It’s the beautiful landscapes of the latter that strongly influence her work.

Beginning the process of creation with watercolour works on paper, she creates simplified studies of the natural world that are then magnified before weaving begins. It’s an act of observation and imagination – the movements of the sun and moon, the shifting wind and waves are all distilled into geometric forms.

In this, a year when tapestry will very much be in the spotlight with the arrival of the Bayeaux Tapestry at the British museum in September, this is a chance to witness where the art form is today and how these pieces can work in interiors – Cazalet’s tapestries will be presented alongside mid-century furniture pieces chosen by the artist. sussycazalet.co.uk