Louise Macdonald
Fibre and textile artist Louise has been weaving magic with the fibres she delicately hand dyes for almost a decade now.
Louise purchased her first loom on Gumtree as a new mother eight years ago, fascinated by the wraps used to swaddle her baby for sleep and keen to try making her own.
Today she is the gifted hands behind The Brisbane Weaving Company. Louise creates unique, one-of-a-kind pieces in heirloom quality fabric that run the gamut from blankets and baby wraps, to scarfs and silk wrist cuffs, napkins and tea towels.
Her passion for this intricate, old-world craft shines through in every piece.
My creative space is…
a semi-complete structure in our back garden that was here when we purchased the house 18 months ago. A wall and windows, but no lights or water…still, I knew immediately it would become my studio. For now we have got it to a point where it is still rough and ready, but it does the job. I’ve covered the walls with artwork from friends and family and I share the space with my children who have made part of it their play den. This can sometimes be distracting, but often it’s just nice for us all to enjoy our things together.
The last piece I created is…
new batches of hand dyed tea towels, bread baskets, and napkins in a check pattern I am loving at the moment. I spent a lot of time in France as a child and these pieces remind me of those French holidays every time I look at them. We used napkins like these to line the bread basket and as our napkins. It was tradition that everyone had their own napkin and I now carry this on with my own family. You keep it all week and it gets pulled out for every meal. There’s a ritual around the selection of your napkin and placing it on the table each time you gather for a meal. It’s such a wonderful family memory for me, so they are making me smile every time I look at them.
The reason I became an artist…
I’ve always been connected to fibrework. Growing up my mum was forever sewing or knitting and when I moved to Australia from the UK I was gifted my grandmother's sewing supplies, which was very special. Becoming a mother spurred me to want to learn to hand weave and really, I haven’t looked back.
My art is unique because…
I love to make functional pieces that also look fantastic. Every piece I make can be used in everyday life in some way. I love the connection to history this gives me.
My favourite tool for creating is...
my weaving shuttle, which I absolutely adore. It is a beautiful handmade piece that I’ve had for years and it now feels like a part of me. The shuttle is used to pass the weft forward and back through the project and is the step that turns threads into cloth.
Making space in my life for art means…
Oof, this one comes close to the bone. For me, making space for art feels like a constant juggle. I sew pieces while I sit with my family in the evenings. I weave in snatches of time throughout my day, between my day job and my children and my community commitments. It feels like stolen time, but also me time.
What my art has taught me…
to listen to my intuition. When something feels off I need to stop and listen. The amount of times I have felt that something isn’t right, and when I take a moment to breathe and reflect I get to the nub of the issue. It can be that the colours aren’t quite what I wanted or that a part of the project hasn’t been set up correctly and needs to be redone. I’m someone that is always going at top speed; weaving teaches me to slow down and be more intentional.
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