Bring together a designer interested in sustainable, local materials and a weaver who spent years in the landscaping industry and you get a conscious textile studio doing things differently.
At Cape Town’s Sett & Beat, you’ll find looms weaving air plants into hanging tapestries, turmeric- or onion-skin-dyed yarns bringing colour to cushions and throws, and one-of-a-kind textile artworks made from silk, mohair and cotton.
That the two women behind the home-based hand-weaving studio are mother and daughter only adds to this alchemy that sees unorthodox applications and traditional skills unite.
Mother Sandi Gillman discovered her passion for weaving while in her 20s. “I grew up on a sheep farm in Victoria West and I had access to the raw material — fleece from my Dad,” she says.
Procuring a spinning wheel, she began making her own yarn, later buying a hand-operated loom on which to weave. Weaving remained a hobby as she prioritised her two children and her and her husband’s landscaping business.
In the meantime daughter Camila Gilman gained a degree in fashion design and worked as production co-ordinator for luxury fashion brand Christopher Kane in London. She later returned to the Cape to pursue a post-graduate diploma in sustainable development, and then landed jobs that always involved textiles in one way or another, most recently with the South Africa Mohair Cluster.
Last year the two women joined forces to launch Sett & Beat in the home in which Camila grew up. Using just four looms, they are hand-weaving very unusual textiles that are being sought by top fashion and interior designers for their unique approach to texture, materials and pattern design.
“No one is really using different materials in the textile market, and we love to experiment,” says Camila, pointing to a table runner with decorative raffia elements sticking out of it, and a hemp and restio roller blind.
Besides creating bespoke textiles for clients, Sett & Beat has an in-house range of homeware. Brushed mohair blankets, sheer cotton curtains, cotton and hemp placemats, napkins, towels, cushion covers and more are produced by their tiny team of three that includes Ntombi Shumane, an artisan Sandi has trained.
“We don’t ever want to become a big company,” says Camila. “We want to grow untraditionally.” For them, expansion means connecting to like-minded, sustainably focused producers, partnering with local mills and responsible suppliers, and building a network of customers who understand the preciousness of a time-intensive piece of hand-weaving. “We’d rather produce less and promote conscious consumption,” says Sandi. “Smaller quantities, made to order.”
Sett & Beat uses only natural fibres and works with a local supplier to get yarns dyed in nature’s extracts, such as eucalyptus, olive leaves and red cabbage. When hand-brushing their mohair blankets, they gather the brushed-off fibres and spin these back into yarns in their pursuit of having zero waste. This means fringes remain on the products uncut, and leftover strips of fabric are stitched together for cushion designs.
Says Camila: “We’re exploiting what makes something handmade. We want people to look at our textiles and products and understand that a hand has made this.”
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Sett: the number of strands of warp yarn there are in a single inch of weaving width.
Beat: Every time a weaver throws a line of weft, it needs to be pushed (beat) into place evenly. On a multi-shaft loom, you beat by swinging the beater bar towards you.
• See: www.settandbeat.com and @sett_and_beat on Instagram
