Meet The Maker: Anne Rogers

Where did you study and was this experience a pivotal part of your creative journey?
I first encountered felt making at a one-day workshop with Margaret Docherty at Ruskin Mill. I was captivated by the magic of the process; that a beautiful bag strong enough to carry bricks could be made in just one day from the finest wispy, flyaway wool fibres with just soap and water! And a lot of hard work, of course!
I was inspired to learn more, and took a City and Guilds in Felt making at Gloscat and joined the International Felt makers Association where I met, and worked with, numerous renowned felt makers from across the globe bringing new inspirations and techniques which have fed my creative journey.

What are your main sources of inspiration?
I take my inspiration from fashion, the shapes and textures, and from the felt making process itself. I like to interpret contemporary fashion ideas in felt, combining merino wool with fine natural fabrics to make new sumptuous textured felted fabrics which bring luxury to a simple design.

Do you work with sketch books?
No, I have to admit that the pencil and I are not friends! Probably because my background was originally not artistic but academic; I did a Maths degree in a previous life! I prefer to work out ideas for colours and shapes in my head and then just launch in!

Can you say why you chose felt as a material to work with? What are the qualities that you particularly enjoy?
It was the magic of the process that I found so inspiring. And the speed; I had been doing embroidery previously, which is endlessly time consuming, and to be able to finish something beautiful in a day was wonderful!

I love the textures that can be achieved by combining wool with delicate fabrics. The fabrics ruche in a unique way in the felting process, making the most beautiful little textured corners and exquisite draping fabrics.

Where do you work? Do you have a studio or a particular place where you work?
I have a studio at Griffin Mill, as part of the Pegasus Art Shop complex, which I love. There is a group of lovely artists working there and we all laugh and chat around the kettle! I also belong to the Studio Seven textile group which works on collaborative projects at Liz Lippiatt’s Textile Studio at Stroud Valleys Artspace. It a wonderfully diverse and supportive group and very exciting to stretch my artistic creativity working together on our innovative cross-arts projects.

How do you see your work developing?
I constantly have ideas for new shapes in fashion and want to develop my range of wearables further, trying out new fabric combinations.

Has your work changed and evolved recently and if so in what way?
My work is constantly changing and developing. I am something of a butterfly where work is concerned and do not like to stay with one idea for too long before moving on to try something new. I recently acquired a collection of wonderful vibrant dyes from the 1960’s and am having a lot of fun trying new dye patterns on  fabrics which I then work into with felt.

Do you have someone whose work you particularly admire?
Scandinavians are wonderful felt makers, producing the very best well-fulled fine felt that is strong enough to withstand the rigours of wear yet has a lovely drape. Felt can have a reputation for being thick and hairy which it absolutely shouldn’t be if it is made properly, which I hope mine always is! Charlotte Buch from Denmark makes exquisite felted wearables in all manner of unique designs.  
Polly Stirling, from USA, devised the Nuno method of felting with fabric and I have been lucky enough to work with her several times, being constantly inspired by her work.

What project are you working on at the moment?
Currently I am working on some new work to add to my winter collection. I have also blown the dust off my sewing machine, helping Corinne Hockley with making the costumes for the new Red Dog production, ‘One Flea Spare’. And Studio Seven is working on another new collaboration for 2011 which we are busy planning now.

Anne Rogers
Sept 2010

inside Anne's studio, stroud