LONDON CRAFT WEEK 14th -18th MAY: BGKC HOST WORKSHOPS IN COLLABORATION WITH STRATFORD CROSS, UAL & V&A
Black Girl Knit Club – Hosted workshops for participants to create a collaborative knit piece or tote bag while starting or expanding or your knitting skills, learning a variety of different stitches and experimenting with yarn textures.
CROSS THE LINE
Cross the Line: Creative Workshops Intersecting Art and Craft
We hosted workshops to create a collaborative knit piece or tote bag while starting or expanding or your knitting skills, learning a variety of different stitches and experimenting with yarn textures.
Stratford Cross is proud to host five days of creative workshops with UAL London College of Fashion, the V&A Academy and Black Girl Knit Club, celebrating imagination and wellbeing. Participants are guided through the creative practice of ‘taking a line for a walk’, from drawing to embroidery and knitting.
UAL London College of Fashion – hosted drawing workshops & V&A Academy – hosted embroidery workshops.
https://londoncraftweek.com/events/cross-the-line-creative-workshops-intersecting-art-and-craft/
Our workshop was carried out in an airstream with the backdrop of our Yarn bomb installation that was extended for this intervention at Endeavour Square.
See how the day turned out below. All images taken by @kings_art
BRAIDED TRADITIONS: PHASE 2 TREE BOMBING
A second set of BGKC yarn bomb tree designs is to be launched at Endeavour Square, in collaboration with five individual knitwear designers. Seven tree trunks will be yarn bombed by five BGKC knitwear designer members. Each designer has responded to the brief of “ Braided Traditions: Common Threads.” Exploring various yarn textures and techniques to showcase their individual relationship with the subject of “hair” through knitting.
Yarn bombing tree designs crafted by:
“Breanna” by Peju Obasa - @pejuobasa, - A yarn bombing homage to Breanna, my first Barbie doll. With Breanna, my fascination with braiding found its playground!
"Braids For My Girls" by Sheree Robinson - @Shereerarobinson -My yarn bombing features depictions of the dialogue, phrases, symbols, and pictures that make up our familiar hair language; it’s a love letter of joy to the hair of my daughter and sister. The work uses the knitting techniques of Braiding, Faire Isle, Colour Work and Beaded Knitting.
“Combing Through” by Mia Rodney - @allbitsknit - I encourage the viewer to interact with my yarn bombing through touch and feeling. The focus is on hair in its natural curly state, with nods to straightening hair. I explore these intricate curl patterns in my knits, with large hand knitted panels – crafted using relaxing repetitive movements – just like in hair braiding.
“Country Plant” by Fatima Duke-Pratt - @unduku_luku - My yarn bombing is an exploration of the colourful traditional hairstyles and hair accessories I wore in my childhood. In Krio, the most widely spoken language in Sierra Leone, ‘country plant’ describes a type of cornrow/braid that I have featured in my work.
“Gara ndiruke” (sit and let me braid) by Fadzi Sango - @ sinoia_. -My yarn bombing is inspired by the transformative joy of being able to explore fluctuating identity through my hair after my mother and nanny taught me. I wore many masks.
A second set of BGKC yarn bomb tree designs is to be launched at Endeavour Square, in collaboration with five individual knitwear designers. Seven tree trunks will be yarn bombed by five BGKC knitwear designer members. Each designer has responded to the brief of “ Braided Traditions: Common Threads.” Exploring various yarn textures and techniques to showcase their individual relationship with the subject of “hair” through knitting.
Yarn bombing tree designs crafted by:
“Breanna” by Peju Obasa - @pejuobasa, - A yarn bombing homage to Breanna, my first Barbie doll. With Breanna, my fascination with braiding found its playground!
"Braids For My Girls" by Sheree Robinson - @Shereerarobinson -My yarn bombing features depictions of the dialogue, phrases, symbols, and pictures that make up our familiar hair language; it’s a love letter of joy to the hair of my daughter and sister. The work uses the knitting techniques of Braiding, Faire Isle, Colour Work and Beaded Knitting.
“Combing Through” by Mia Rodney - @allbitsknit - I encourage the viewer to interact with my yarn bombing through touch and feeling. The focus is on hair in its natural curly state, with nods to straightening hair. I explore these intricate curl patterns in my knits, with large hand knitted panels – crafted using relaxing repetitive movements – just like in hair braiding.
“Country Plant” by Fatima Duke-Pratt - @unduku_luku - My yarn bombing is an exploration of the colourful traditional hairstyles and hair accessories I wore in my childhood. In Krio, the most widely spoken language in Sierra Leone, ‘country plant’ describes a type of cornrow/braid that I have featured in my work.
“Gara ndiruke” (sit and let me braid) by Fadzi Sango - @ sinoia_. -My yarn bombing is inspired by the transformative joy of being able to explore fluctuating identity through my hair after my mother and nanny taught me. I wore many masks.
We would like to express a heartfelt thank you to the knitwear designers who have made this installation what it is by adding your story, it is important for us to spotlight your designs in such a public way. We loved seeing your interpretations and creative direction of this yarn bombing! Please see the gallery below:
All photography by @kings_art
TATE BRITAIN: BLACK BLOSSOMS PRESENTS FLOURISH
In collaboration with Black Blossoms Black Girl Knit Club hosted a drop in 3hr workshop at Tate Britain. Black Blossoms curated a one-night-only art event at Tate Britain.
In collaboration with Black Blossoms Black Girl Knit Club hosted a drop in 3hr workshop at Tate Britain. Black Blossoms curated a one-night-only art event at Tate Britain.
Black Blossoms, an art organisation that operates as an expanded curatorial platform and online art school, providing courses and workshops exploring various aspects of contemporary art with a focus on diversity and inclusivity.
The groundbreaking creative organisation is bringing its inclusive art programming to Late at Tate, showcasing work centred around diasporic identities. The theme of the night is Flourish. The theme of “Flourish” for the Late, is particularly significant in relation to, “The Unfinished Conversation” a display curated by Aicha Mehrez. This display and works on view pay tribute to the work of Stuart Hall, one of the most influential thinkers of our time, whose ideas on race, identity, and culture have shaped contemporary thinking in the field of cultural studies.
We Were fortunate enough to hold workshops with our curated playlist in the Art Now room with artwork by Rosie Hastings and Hannah Quilain fresco paintings fresco painting to depict street scenes showing groups of people portraying various power dynamics, class and social relations and positions of authority, they challenge viewers to question what public space looks like.
See images below images by Kings_art
NOW GALLERY: RIBBONS - KNIT IN WORKSHOPS
Black Girl Knit Club hosted 3 sold out workshops from 6-9pm at NOW Gallery in response to Matty Bovan Ribbons exhibition.
Black Girl Knit Club hosted 3 sold out workshops from 6-9pm at NOW Gallery in response to Matty Bovan Ribbons exhibition. We thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the craft night, meeting loads of knitting enthusiasts and creative people. It was such great night.
Our attendees were able to create knitted squares as a part of @craft_forward
Blankets for Lambeth initiative, keeping those experiencing homelessness warm this winter.
A massive thank you to our team on the night, the NOW team, Crochet Cookey & Craft Forward; to Wool and The Gang for providing the supplies.
See images below
All images taken: @Kings_art
GRADUATE FASHION WEEK: BLACK GIRL KNIT CLUB LIVE TALK
We're excited for you to see our first live talk in collaboration with the Graduate fashion Foundation speaking on the importance of confidence, community & Craft. We also spoke with Beatrice of Korlekie a specialist knitwear designer discussing the brand and her story.
Over the weekend we had the pleasure of speaking at our first live talk as a part of the Graduate Fashion Foundation where we discuss confidence, community & Craft/ We also had an informal chat with modern knitwear designer Korelekie As part of this 1-hour talk, Black Girl Knit Club will discuss the importance of community and its delicacies in relation to craft and how they have created this within their club as well as running a start-up. They will talk through some of their exciting project highlights from 2020 into this year including articles on garment sustainability with Guardian Fashion, creating a series of knitting idents for the BBC during the lockdown, these have been seen nationwide by more than 34million people and more recently launching a collection of upcycled yarn exclusively online & in-store collaborating with prestigious retailer Liberty London on Regents Street.
This session will involve an interactive live knit along with the founders; Sicgmone and Vea alongside two guests: Female designers from their online Black Women in Craft Series & IG Takeovers to discuss the power of craft, navigating imposter syndrome and thriving through your creativity and how to do that confidently. The audience is encouraged to bring along their knitting needles and yarn to join this virtual craft discussion.
Watch and enjoy an insight into how we started BGKC, how we’ve built a community and developed confidence in our community.
Images by @kings_art
Make your own Knitted Head Piece - Peacock Of Ademe
Summer is here and your accessories need to make a statement too! Here’s how you can also create this knitted headpiece with our upcycled wax print yarn!
KNITTED HEAD PIECE
Summer is here and your accessories need to make a statement too.
Summer in London and we're celebrating our first live workshop since February 2020 at the Power of Festival, by the Fashion Minority Report.
This festival is celebrating the power of Black identity and its lasting impact on British culture through film, photography, fashion & music. Today we are creating knitted necklaces and bracelets as a matching set using our upcycled traditional West African wax print yarn which is now sold exclusively at Liberty London!
We absolutely love how the knit stitch is so similar to how we braid our hair, the significance is astonishing the link to our identity can also be found in these skills of using your hands to create.
We would love for you to create your own so please take a look at our shop and download the pattern E-book!
Images @kings_art
BLACK GIRL FESTIVAL 2019 x BLACK GIRL KNIT CLUB: TAKING UP SPACE
Black Girl Knit Club was invited to host a drop-in session at Black Girl Festival in London at the London Design Centre. The theme was taking up space and we were excited to be in a community to deliver our knitting workshop during Black History Month, amongst 3000 people. Take a look at how our day was…
In collaboration with Black Girl Festival - BGKC were asked to host a 4hr drop in session during Black Girl Festival 2019 - The theme this year was Taking Up Space. Our workshop consisted of making knitted bracelets and necklaces with children and women who are from all different backgrounds and teach them a new skills. It was such pleasure to be able to host a workshop in London among our community of over 3000 attendees. Thank you to all the attendees and see you soon at our workshops - Stay tuned on our Instagram/twitter for announcements
We had an amazing time so please take a look at the pictures and enjoy! Images taken by Kings-Art
BLACK GIRL KNIT CLUB x REIGNxSHINE: END OF SUMMER WELLNESS RETREAT
We were invited by ReignxShine ladies to host a workshop at their wellness weekend retreat. It was such a soothing and relaxing time teaching this group of ladies of all levels to knit necklaces and bracelets with our Wax print yarn.
We were invited by ReignxShine ladies to host a workshop at their wellness weekend retreat. It was such a soothing and relaxing time teaching this group of ladies of all levels to knit necklaces and bracelets with our Wax print yarn.
Reign x Shine is a luxury wellness brand, created with black women in mind. Their retreats; They recognised the need for self-preservation and healing, and wanted to create a safe space for sisters to focus on their physical health and mental well-being. They have created a retreat providing the perfect balance between relaxation, goal setting, and enjoyment. We want you to take a break from your everyday life, flip the script and press reset.
Take a look at how the event went on many thanks to ReignxShine for working with us: Photography by ReignxShine
BGKC SUMMER ACCESSORIES WORKSHOP: NECKLACE + BRACELETS
We're really excited to host another workshop with you all in East London. Considering as it is summer and schools out our knitted accessories workshop would be perfect for beginners to create something you can actually wear!
We are excited to share another workshop with you all in East London. Considering as it is summer and schools out our knitted accessories workshop was perfect for beginners to create something you can actually wear. We made knitted bracelets and necklaces using the knit stitch of only 2 rows and introduced our BGKC wax print cloth
Take a look at the photos - Photography by Kings-Art
BLACK GIRL KNIT: FINGERLESS MITTENS
At our spring themed workshop, Black Girl Knit Club created finger-less mittens for the spring time! Take a look at all that happened on a Thursday evening. Many thanks to Afrocenchix for gifting our members with a discount code and exclusive hair bonnet.
At our spring themed workshop, Black Girl Knit Club created finger-less mittens for the spring time! Take a look at all that happened on a Thursday evening. Many thanks to Afrocenchix for gifting our members with a discount code and exclusive hair bonnet.
Our Second workshop was such a great way to create something for the warmer months. This workshop was sold out and held in Walthamstow Parade.
Photography by Kings-Art
