Rag Manifesto: Making, Folklore and Community

Rag Manifesto is a unique, artist’s view of the traditional art of rag rug making for this age of the Anthropocene. Projects highlight a reverence for our lost textiles, a response to the environmental impact of fast fashion and proof that rag is a rich resource, wrongly classed as a taboo material. Rachael Matthews gives us permission to cut up our old fabrics offering a support structure for decision making and a chart on how to make liberating decisions about destroying a garment.

Rachael Matthews is an artist and author, with a primary interest in knitting. Born in the Lake District in England, she grew up with an interest in textile traditions and romanticism. The founder of Cast Off Knitting Club for Boys and Girls, she was a pioneer in the new wave of KIP and the author of two books that illustrated the movement, Knitorama and Hookorama. Rachael uses knitting and crochet as sculpture and painting, and knitted garments are illustrations for stories. Rachael ran Prick Your Finger, an ethical yarn shop and textile gallery in East London, which sources fibers and handspins its own yarns and has curated knitting events for the V&A and Tate Modern, She is a hand-knit tutor at Central St Martins and has been practising mindfulness meditation and yoga for over 20 years.

Paperback.

170mm x 240mm