Off Loom

Alongside our 2020 exhibition, Unbound: Visionary Women Collecting Textiles which focused on seven pioneering women who saw beyond the purely functional, to reveal the extraordinary artistic, social and cultural importance of textiles, we collaborated with the wonderful ‘A’ Team Arts to create the ‘Off Loom’ Chair Weaving Project.

The project engaged 14 young participants aged 11-19 from Tower Hamlets who reimagined our café chairs, using different weaving techniques to give each chair its own identity, narrative and story. Each chair involved a group approach with careful planning and preparation that reflected the diversity of young people taking part, and their story. Working on a live project was a great motivation for the 14 young participants, all from different schools, cultural back grounds and genders, culminating in this wonderful opportunity to show their work in a professional environment that is Two Temple Place! The chairs were then on display in our café rooms throughout our Unbound exhibition for people to admire and even sit on! Below we will take a closer look at the chairs from the project and hear about what inspired the young people who made them.

Find out more about the brilliant individual woven chairs in our 2020 blog post, Voices From Two Temple Place.