Long Thread Podcast: Sahara Briscoe, Creative Multicrafter

Sahara Briscoe has a challenge for you: Do more with yarn. Knit your spinning, spin your knitting, rug hook with yarn, paint on your swatches, embroider with yarn, and question your assumptions about what your stash is for.

Working from a compact Bronx studio, Sahara can’t be easily classified under any label ending in -er except New Yorker. She spins, weaves on all kinds of looms, dyes, knits by hand and machine, crochets, hooks rugs, embroiders, designs custom fabrics for a range of clients, teaches, and writes, switching happily between them all and combining them as her interests lead her. At present, she is excited about scrappy knitting and a series of hooked-rug trivets. ”My textile life runs under two phrases: What if? And why not?” she says. Instead of staying in craft silos, where we pursue just one set of techniques at a time, she urges fiber folks to combine crafts fearlessly.

In both her personal work and commissioned work, she is drawn to crafting for home. Surrounding herself with textiles she loves, especially ones that transform some treasured stash into something useful, make her life more enjoyable at the same time they promote a low-waste, circular way of living. “For me, beautiful home textiles . . . Well, it‘s like us as women,” she says. “We have to be durable. We have to perform a lot of tasks, you know, and we have to hold up and still look good.”

“My whole design practice and textile practice is about—why can’t the everyday look beautiful?”

Links

Sahara Briscoe’s Instagram
Sahara’s Super String Theory Design custom textile studio
Cochenille Design Studio computer design software

This episode is brought to you by:

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Peace Fleece began in a small Maine town with a mission: to produce a yarn that brings together parties from areas of historic conflict, transcending boundaries through the commerce of wool. From Russian farmers to the Navajo Nation, the original owners set the foundation for meaningful trade. Today, the spinning mill at Harrisville Designs continues the tradition of sourcing fine wool from Navajo farmers, combining it with US wool and a touch of mohair to create the unique Peace Fleece blend. Visit our website at peacefleece.com to learn more.