Karen Casper | Mr X Stitch

Karen Casper is a Contemporary Textiles graduate from England. "Using traditional textile techniques and vintage aesthetics Casper injects contemporary technology producing exciting futuristic pieces that ultimately create an art and fashion crossover. Her work covers a number of genres; costume, editorials, gallery installations and commercial markets as part of her textile label Tulle and Candyfloss Textile Design. "Casper thrives on working with a range of mixed media, which includes embroidery, screen and digital print. Techniques include devore, quilting, embroidery, fabric manipulation and embellishment to produce unique contemporary textiles. She has a passion for all things vintage and wherever possible Casper tries to incorporate this into her work by embellishing with vintage items, whether that be lace or buttons. "Casper Iikes to experiment develop and push her samples, which is an important part of the design process, mixing traditional techniques with new ones. She particularly enjoys working with a theme. In the past, Casper has used fairytale enchantment, childhood memories, vintage fairground and underwater world as inspiration." I really like Karen's work but I do admit it floats outside of my comfort zone (mainly because I don't have much time for fashion (on account of being a chunky monkey)). However, I know what I like and I do like what Karen is doing with 3D embroidery and the way she is exploring the medium. There's a real sense that she's pushing embroidery as far as she can, creating exotic new forms and shapes, while retaining the high fashion element. The Miss Coral piece (exploring environmental issues and 'preserved textiles") uses glow in the dark materials to create a terrific effect - the piece looks like a mashup of Tron and Victoriana and I think it's a great concept. This video that Karen's produced highlights the effect (pun intended). Visit Karen's website to see her body of work. There's no denying her creativity and I'm genuinely interested to see what she comes up with next. ----- The Cutting & Stitching Edge is brought to you in association with PUSH: Stitchery, the must-have embroidered art book by Mr X Stitch !