Thrifted Palette
Thrift is defined as ‘the quality of using resources carefully and not wastefully.’
Henrietta’s experiences of beach and river clean-ups in Sri Lanka made her question attitudes toward waste, with a focus on the UK textile industry.
In search of a solution, she began finding the potential for leftover materials to live on in new ways, using her practice as a way of shining a light on their unseen potential. In her project, Thrifted Palette, she sourced overlooked leftover materials from Gainsborough, a British silk mill, crafting and constructing their sculptural transformation through processing techniques on and off the loom.
She reforms her palette of silk yarn hanks by focusing on the imperfections that can be celebrated in materials, where each handwoven artefact provides an intervention between textile waste and processes.
Mesh Work, No.43, Atelier LK
No.43 curated by Atelier LK was a group exhibition that took place in the former home of Hackney-based artist Ron Hitchin. Hitchin's work and home were left behind along with his sculptural pieces.
Henrietta was invited to respond to his work to honour his legacy. She focused on his organically engraved metal tiles noticing how they could be continually extended, echoing the notion of weaving cloth. She was touched by his eclectic aura, and in her response, Mesh Work, she used negative space to reveal a grid against the wooden walls.
Medium: Paper, Wool & Silk
Rethinking Single-Use Plastic, Priestman Goode x RCA
Rethinking Single-use Plastic was a live brief set by Colour, Material, Finish Design Consultancy Priestman Goode. Henrietta's response, Recrafting Value: Ravel, Unravel, Layer focused on waste found in supermarket waste streams by sourcing second-hand waste through local communities. She used spinning and weaving techniques to craft the waste into a range of handwoven surfaces. Her project was exhibited at London Design Festival in 2021.
