Experience in Bangladesh with an NGO training young people in fashion technology stimulated a desire to 'make the cloth'. I subsequently returned to England and took a fast-track degree in textile design (Chelsea College of Art and Design, 1996-1998), specialising in weave.

Since graduating I have made woven scarves, shawls, wall hangings and art pieces, whilst periodically returning to the developing world to work on textile related projects, especially in Nepal.

An abiding fascination for me has been illusion; 'things not being quite as they seem'. This ambiguity is reflected in my work, my pieces are often loosely woven, very fine gossamer drifts of cloth; memories of fine lace and silk from early days in Nottingham, but quite spontaneously worked within the geometric boundaries of the warp and weft. I sometimes use fine steel in my weave; the steel often perceived as hard and resistant can, however, produce the softest sculptural cloth.

I touch on the ambiguity of materials and their meaning whilst retaining the delicacy and atmospheric quality of the pieces'.

Pat Hopewell