Stanley Picker Gallery is pleased to be hosting ‘Kantha’s of Friendship’, a new community project centred on traditional crafts, textile recycling and cross-cultural collaborations, led by Kingston-based textile group, Ariadne’s Thread.

Initial workshops (1, 8 & 15 October) will include learning the kantha stitch technique – a centuries old Bengali tradition of stitching and embroidering patchwork cloth from discarded fabric – block printing and practicing embroidery designs on samples. No prior experience is necessary! Following, fortnightly workshops will involve development of designs and technique, and sharing progress. Over the course of three months, the project aim is to produce textile artworks from recycled lightweight scarves for contribution to an exhibition as part of Kingston 2025.

Participants at Stanley Picker Gallery would be one of four local communities collaborating on kanthas. The other participating groups are Kingston Hong Kong Community, the Korean Community and MILAAP Multicultural Day Centre. This also includes the Ukrainian residents of the borough who form the original Ariadne’s Thread group, the umbrella organisation for this venture. There will be a multi-group gathering halfway through the course, including talks and discussion around creative textiles practices and building communities; practical demonstrations and an opportunity to share experiences and meet the other participants.

Group members will also have the chance to learn about and participate in Ariadne’s Thread Sow to Sew project, cultivating flax crops and processing into fibres which subsequently become linen threads for stitching.

For more information and to sign up, please contact magdalena@ariadnesthreadgroup.org