Judi Archer is a British designer who creates textiles for home interiors. Her handcrafted homewares include hand tufted cushions, artwork and foot stools. Her designs feature strong colours and patterns inspired by Scandinavian and Japanese design.
During her MA in Multidisciplinary Print Design, Judi explored the sustainability of the textile industry and the relationship with crafts. This led her back to her roots in constructed textiles.
‘boroboro’ is a Japanese term that means ‘something tattered or repaired’ and ‘boro’ refers to the practice of reworking and repairing textiles (V&A). It is inspired by indigo-dyed hemp clothing in Japan that was patched up. Influenced by this concept, Judi started to ‘repurpose textiles and augment them with texture through tufting’.
Ancient craft
Hand tufting is an ancient craft that has been around for centuries. It is believed to originate in Persia (modern day Iran) with nomadic tribes who made carpets using the technique (Tuft The World).
The oldest known Persian rug is the ‘Pazyryk Carpet’ dating back to 5 BCE and possibly as far back as the 4th or 3rd century BC (Voices on Central Asia). It is made up of 3,600 double symmetric Turkish knots for every 10cm2 and is likely to have been made by a woman, taking at least 1.5 years to complete. The threads are trimmed or sheared to make a 2mm pile.
The first hand tufting guns were used in the 1930s to make carpets (Factum Arte). The woven fabric is stretched over a loom and the gun shoots the threads through the canvas to the front. It is accurate and precise, allowing for different depths of thread. The thread can also be sculpted afterwards to add texture.
Tufting has re-emerged as a design trend and it is popular on social media with crafters and makers. It fits right into the ethos of reusing and upcycling textiles for the home.
Handcrafted homewares
Judi makes all of her products by hand including sewing and hand finishing them herself. The colour schemes are carefully chosen, and often feature blues and greens. But the colours cannot always be reproduced as the yarn for her work is dead stock – waste yarn discarded by factories. Judi also uses waste foam for her pouffes. She finishes cushions with linen backs and feather stuffing enclosed in cotton.
Judi is an active member of Blue Patch, taking part in many of our events like London Design Fair, Decorex and Brantwood last summer. She is continuously improving her sustainability by looking for alternative materials and packaging her products in sustainable materials whenever possible. Pull My Thread at Brantwood was themed around sustainable textiles and Judi exhibited monochrome geometric wall hangings and cushions in cream, charcoal, green and blue wool.
Judi sells her hand tufted cushions and footstools on her website and she can also work to commission. If you are interested in ordering her work, visit www.judiarcher.com
