As a tapestry stitcher I get to notice the small things, the incremental growth of a piece of stitching literally stitch by stitch. Before I get to the needle through canvas stage, though, I have done a lot of my favourite part of any process. Noticing things!
I love a cracked pavement created by a big tree root, I like noticing how steps start to wear away, I love seeing weeds grow through chinks in a wall. I take noticing things quite seriously.
Over the years I have noticed how when stitching in a group if we have something to concentrate on then it feels easier to talk. I wanted to create a product that could capture this feeling of being able to talk whist doing, with the doing being the thing that made us talk!
Having an idea is one thing, getting it made into a product is another, so my second favourite part of process (people) came into play, the people in the process were Dual Works. Experimenting with 3d prototyping and having the caveat of “no bigger than my shopping trolley” Connect More – a stitching tool for communication was born.
Come hear more about the tool, see the protoypes, and learn how collaboration with people really is the name of the game when it comes to process.
Speakers
Tina Francis
Stitch Innovator
Working with stitch gives you a different perspective on time, Tina measures her days in inches not hours. Using her needle to innovate and communicate Tina works with various communities in Birmingham alongside her own stitch practice. A stitch innovator her latest product “Connect More”, designed in the Jewellery Quarter came from her favourite part of any process which is “noticing things.” Collaborating makes a process sweet and the results when we listen to each other with trust can be truly fabulous.