Your incredible creations put a whole new spin on crochet — where did it all start?
My background is in fine art and design. When I returned to SA in 1995 after living and working in design in London for 18 years, I worked with my close friend Hillary Rhode (a well-known knitwear designer, living in Scotland) in the second incarnation of a crochet project called Spider Africa. This was around 2003.
We made intricate and exquisite scarves for years. The motivation behind the project was to create beautiful and unusual pieces for those customers who have a strong appreciation of handmade textiles, colour and design, and to be able to pay our artisans well for continually upgrading their skills, and that remains a guiding principle.
I began introducing designs of animals and plants in about 2006, and took the project in a different direction, leaving fashion and becoming more interested in three-dimensional work. We still made scarves up till about 2017, which a New York agent in handmade textiles took on NY Fashion Week for two years. The orders became too big, and the deadlines too insane to even consider — the project was never meant to be a Chinese scarf factory. So I dropped the scarves and began making my own figurative and botanical crochet sculpture.
Increasingly, I became interested in a dense style of crochet, where the work becomes almost like fabric, and one can stripe and colour block and create an interesting artisanal textile.
My pieces became larger — and also much smaller. I become bored repeating the same designs, which suits our clients who want fresh seasonal work in interesting colours. It means our artisans must learn the new designs as we go, and you need to be very good and very dedicated at this level. Crochet is the vehicle for my designs, but I am more interested in the objects. This means crocheting with no rules. That’s why our look is unique — and the difficulty of using such tight, fine stitching puts many would-be imitators off.
If you could choose anyone to collaborate with, who would that be and why?
A furniture designer: that could be an opportunity for a playful, witty and beautiful result, I think. There are more brands and more designers out there who want to collaborate, and I’m always open to enthusiastic clients and creative ideas.
What are the challenges you face with such an intricate craft?
I don’t crochet at all, so the problem isn’t mine. The artisans in our project are all accustomed to working with a fine crochet hook and thin yarn, and are incredibly skilled. The challenges are more about getting my designs replicated in such a way that they keep their graphic clarity. That’s important to me — and that’s where we differ hugely from projects that make things from store-bought patterns. Our customers appreciate the level of skill and technique involved, and that we use our own original designs.
What motivates you to create and when is the best part of the day to do so?
Sometimes I see new designs in dreams, and that’s exciting. I force myself to wake up and make a sketch. Often I’m motivated by an idea about colour. Fresh combinations inspire me to radically alter old designs.
Sometimes it can be a leaf, a shell, a stone.
The best thing is to be motivated by a client who is adventurous and trusts you. I am a morning person. Even 6am is a good time to be sitting in the quiet, putting down fresh ideas. Most days I walk before or after work with a friend on the mountain or by the sea. It energises me for a day in the studio. I always feel wonderful afterwards.
What are you working on at the moment?
I am busy with new colourways for toys for 2022, a beautiful vase and plant collection idea, and a plan for some heads and figures — my own work, not the project’s. I am modifying some older designs that I love, to make them easier for our artisans.
Good design should be reasonably easy to make, so that’s important.
Who or what has been your greatest artistic influence to date?
At art school I was very influenced by the expressionists — and also by pop art and colour field painting. I’m less interested in being influenced by specific artists than by aesthetic attitudes. Japan and Africa move me equally. I’d still love to visit Japan. I admire the way their aesthetic principles are reflected in every aspect of craft, design, art and food.
Philosophies that embody an appreciation of calm, nature, silence, reflection, are where art and culture flourish. I love African art — old and new — from all across the continent. I feel strongly that young designers should aim to create original work, rather than cutting and pasting from the internet — unless they manage to bring something personal to this process.
Where is the most beautiful place you have been to?
Vevring, a tiny coastal village on the fiords of Norway.
In 2019, I was invited to show my work and that of our project at an exhibition of work by international, Norwegian and Danish artists, working in different disciplines. There are always artworks placed indoors, and outside on the grassy mountain slopes.
Arriving after dark on an autumn night I couldn't see much of my surroundings, but was shown by my hosts to a cosy, wood-panelled bedroom, much like a little ship's cabin. I woke up to a view of the fiord, with the mist hovering over the water, and the pristine, snow-dusted mountains beyond. The house bordered a forest, and was at the bottom of the mountain and the harbour was a short walk down the hill.
It was completely unspoilt, and the way the people lived impressed me so much: sustainably, with the greatest respect for nature and each other. The entire community functioned in a spirit of trust and sharing that I haven’t experienced elsewhere.
The stillness and beauty of the fjords was protected and respected, and everyone had been taught from an early age to treasure and appreciate a landscape and a way of life that went all the way back to their ancestors. To respect the land you live on, and to understand its importance is something we should be teaching our children.
For more information on Peta Becker’s work, go to projektonline.co.za or find her on Instagram.
