West Dean Tapestry Studio is set for a landmark year in 2025 with the unveiling of new tapestry commissions by three leading contemporary artists: Eva Rothschild, Chila Burman and Linder. The professional tapestry studio is one of only two in the UK and is set within the campus of West Dean College in West Sussex, a prestigious institution for arts, design, craft and conservation.

Since 1976, West Dean Tapestry Studio has developed an outstanding reputation for translating artistic visions into woven masterpieces with commissions from renowned artists like Henry Moore, John Piper, Eileen Agar, Howard Hodgkin, Tracey Emin, Martin Creed and Michael Armitage. Each collaboration has pushed the boundaries of textile art, promoting crossovers between traditional crafts and innovative contemporary practice.

This year demonstrates the vitality of the Studio ahead of its 50th anniversary in 2026.

Chila Burman

Chila Kumari Singh Burman kicks off the artistic tapestry showcase with Cosmological World, her debut woven work, featured in her new commission by Imperial War Museums, Chila Welcomes You for Manchester’s IWM North (30 January - 31 August), which explores Indian migration after the Second World War from a personal perspective. Burman frequently combines traditional and religious iconography with pattern, colour, and images from pop culture. In her tapestry, the Hindu god Krishna plays his flute alongside a pair of flamingos, outlined in vivid pink and green.

Eva Rothschild

Following Burman's exhibition, West Dean Honorary Fellow Eva Rothschild unveils two new large-scale tapestries in the public foyer of the highly anticipated Sadler's Wells East, the brand new purpose built theatre for dance which opens in London's East Bank cultural district in early February. Responding to the new building and welcoming audiences into the space, The In Breath and The Out Breath are the largest artworks to be created on the loom at West Dean Tapestry Studio, and the first to be created for a Theatre. The commission marks Rothschild's third major collaboration with West Dean’s Master Weavers, following her first tapestry, The Fallowfield (2018), part of the Tate Collection, and Rings of Saturn for her solo exhibition at Blue Mountain School in London (2019).

Further information, including a film about the commission and a quote by Eva Rothschild, can be found HERE.

Linder

West Dean is pleased to announce that Linder is the recipient of the 2024 West Dean Tapestry Commission with her new tapestry to be unveiled in summer 2025 in Scotland. Working in collaboration with fashion designer Ashish Gupta and the Tapestry Studio’s professional weavers, the work will combine Surrealism, Pop Art, Punk, performance and fashion. The unveiling will coincide with the Scotland leg of Linder’s major touring exhibition, Linder: Danger Came Smiling, at Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, part of Edinburgh Art Festival.

Solidifying the College’s commitment to fostering artistic innovation, the West Dean Tapestry Commission includes a residency at West Dean College which will enable Linder to work closely with the Tapestry Studio to expand her knowledge of the weaving process and develop the final design.

Details of the new work will be announced next month when Linder: Danger Came Smiling opens at the Hayward Gallery, London. Linder will give a talk at West Dean College on 5 March.

Head of West Dean Tapestry Studio, Philip Sanderson said:

“Creating a woven commission is the ultimate act of translation and the result of a time-honoured collaboration between artist and Master Weavers that is like no other - a creative process that requires great care over an extended period of time. It is always thrilling to see works finally leave the Studio to feature in an exhibition, adorn the walls of an iconic new building, or come to life in ways that echo the medieval and Renaissance tapestries that progressed around the kingdom.”

It is due to the vision of West Dean College founder Edward James (1907 - 1984), supporting traditional arts and craft skills in order to break new ground, that West Dean Tapestry Studio exists to carry on the 5,000 year old tradition of woven tapestries. The Studio opened as a commercial workshop in 1976 with a commission from Mary Moore to produce a tapestry from a drawing by her father, Henry Moore. A further seven tapestries were produced in this series and exhibited at the V&A in 1980, followed by a tour of New Zealand, the USA and Canada over the next five years.

All tapestries created by West Dean Tapestry Studio are hand-woven by expert weavers. The wool is hand-dyed onsite to ensure an accurate translation of the colour from the original artwork. A strong dialogue between the Studio and the artist is an essential part of the weaving process, ensuring that the artist’s vision is captured in the final tapestry.

Besides working with contemporary artists and designers, the Studio has extensive experience of heritage tapestry projects. A notable project was The Hunt and the Unicorn, a series of seven tapestries based on 15th century originals, commissioned by Historic Scotland for the Houses of Parliament. It was the biggest weaving project undertaken in the UK for 100 years, involving 18 international weavers and taking 13 years to complete in 2015.

West Dean College is one of the few educational institutions in the UK that still teaches handwoven tapestry. Whether it be Short Courses or Postgraduate study, the College continues the rich legacy of weaving whilst exploring the boundaries of the discipline. Alumni from the MFA programmes, taught by Philip Sanderson, have gone on to professional roles in the Tapestry Studio, including the weaving of the new Rothschild and Burman tapestries.

In this landmark year for West Dean Tapestry Studio, American curator, writer and historian Glenn Adamson will offer an instinctively arranged history of a half-century of textile art, oriented to the theme of ‘rhythm’. In Flow States: Rhythm and Rhyme in Textile Art (26 February, West Dean College, online), he will outline correspondences with music, poetry, and dance, looking at artists including Sheila Hicks, Francoise Grossen, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Toshiko Takaezu, Nina Yankowitz, Diedrick Brackens and Indira Allegra.

If you are interested in finding out more about the West Dean Tapestry Studio, would like to arrange a tour of the Studio or speak to the artists and/or Master Weavers about the process of translating art into woven masterpieces, please contact Helena and Miles at MAP.

MAP Strategic Communications:

Helena Zedig: [email protected] / 0044 7803 596 587

Miles Evans: [email protected] / 0044 7812 985 993

NOTES TO EDITORS

About West Dean College

West Dean College was founded by Edward James, a poet and patron of the Surrealist Movement who bequeathed his West Sussex family estate to become a centre for education and training in the arts, especially historic craft and conservation practices he feared might be lost to humanity. Since opening in 1971, the College has built a global reputation as a home for groundbreaking creativity, offering a wide range of full and part time courses across the arts, design, craft and conservation on its campus nestled in the inspiring natural realm of the West Sussex countryside and, since 2024, at its new urban outpost in central London.

While the tutors are all renowned experts in their field, notable alumni range from award-winning painters and ceramic artists to BBC Repair Shop presenters. West Dean’s sustained commitment to craft and endangered heritage skills has underpinned the growth of arts and crafts in the UK and internationally. Founded on the belief that making makes life better, West Dean embraced the health and environmental benefits of making long before the current vogue for craft as a mindfulness outlet. In 2021 West Dean merged with the renowned KLC School of Design, and in 2024 opened a campus in the heart of London’s Knowledge Quarter.

Notably, West Dean College houses one of the only two professional tapestry studios in the UK, known for its collaboration with artists and designers since 1976. Since weaving 23 tapestries for Henry Moore (1976 – 1987) the Studio has worked with artists John Piper, Howard Hodgkin, Eileen Agar, Philip Sutton, and Adrian Berg. More recent projects include four tapestries with Eva Rothschild, including one now in the Tate Collection and a major new commission for Sadler’s Wells East, the translation of Michel Armitage’s John Barry, O Kelly, Sonny and Richard Moore (‘Everyday Heroes’) now in the National Portrait Gallery, five tapestries with Tracey Emin, and work with Martin Creed on Work No.1683 for ‘What’s the point of it?’ at Hayward Gallery. Besides working with contemporary artists and designers, the Studio has extensive experience of heritage tapestry projects and commissions for the likes of House of Parliament, Historic Scotland, The Mercers’ Company White Cube Gallery and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

West Dean College also houses an impressive Collection and Archive, open to the public through tours, which includes one of the most important collections of  Surrealist artworks and objects, collected by Edward James who was a friend, patron and collaborator of leading Surrealist artists, including Salvador Dalí, René Magritte and Leonora Carrington.