Taking inspiration from the decay, preservation and curation of objects, my research took me to historic buildings like Rosslyn Chapel, through GSA’s archives and creating my own object compositions. My practice is motivated by texture and material which I incorporate into my drawing and sampling, often merging the two. As part of my tactile approach, I have confined myself to hand stitch alone – using expressive stitch-work to compliment a range of found materials and objects. A textile’s state and structure often guides my technique: staining informs the direction and density of a running stitch, and the thick weave of tartan inspires drawn thread work and insertion of fur scraps. Nearly all my materials, down to the yarn – surplus from Dovecot Studios’ yarn archives – have been sourced second-hand as part of my personal sustainability ethos and as a means of embedding past ‘relics’ into my work. The final designs for the body emphasise tactility, reconstruction and contrast imperfection with attention to detail – creating one-off, wearable heirlooms.