Isabel Fletcher

Isabel Fletcher is a textile artist who explores the way overlooked production offcuts can act as portals into the craft of their industry. Reframing disregarded offcuts as glimpses into the craft of making, she aims to increase empathy for possessions and encourage a reduction in consumption and waste. 

Working intuitively by responding to the nuanced properties presented by offcuts, Isabel’s sculptural works take on ambiguous forms. She is fascinated by materials and their transformation from 2D to 3D. Stitching, draping, gathering, tensioning, separating, layering, cutting, joining: these are processes Isabel utilises when critically interacting with her materials as she seeks to identify their three-dimensional possibilities. The abstract nature of the work allows the mind to wander and imagine beyond the now normalised systems of take, make, waste. Imagination is key.

With a practice rooted in craft but working across art and design depending on the project, Isabel has collaborated with brands such as Kvadrat and TOAST and has presented work in both solo and group exhibitions, including ‘Waste Age’ (Design Museum) and ‘Eternally Yours’ (Somerset House). She regularly runs workshops and completes commissions for galleries, interiors, and clothing. 

Top photograph by Jon Cardwell. Grid Drape 648. (Detail)

‘Industrial Offcuts: Freed of London’, is led by the sourcing of production offcuts from the ballet and theatrical shoe manufacturer, Freed of London.  When visiting the workshop for the first time, I was struck by the contrast between the well-worn nature of the workshop and the gleaming beauty of the finished dance shoes.  The maker of each component at Freed has perfected their craft - their bodies adapted and moulded to the rhythm of the repetitive processes.  The offcuts themselves retain traces of this craft, each leftover scrap contributing to a silhouette of the making process. 

Photographs of the sculptural works within the Freed workshop capture this sensitivity to materials and process, which forms an area of increasing development in my ongoing practice. 

Combining my workshop observations with the offcuts, I transformed the otherwise wasted remnants into ambiguous sculptural forms, each showcasing a different offcut type. I employ processes of cutting, layering, piecing, stitching, draping and gathering to manipulate or enhance the innate shapes, forms and properties presented by the offcuts. Stitch is my primary method of construction and mark-making as I join the fragmented materials and highlight the negative space within the offcuts. The expanded forms which emerge from the suspended pieces are designed to encourage questioning of materials and processes and a reassessment of consumption.

With special thanks to the whole team at Freed of London.