Season 2 : Louisa Loakes - Textile artist based in London

Episode 2 of Season 2 of ARTiculate my podcast series sharing my conversations with artists from a variety of backgrounds and histories. It is a way of keeping myself engaged in these difficult times and I hope it can brighten up your day listening to some of these very interesting people. I have the pleasure of presenting the lovely Louisa Loakes a textile artist quietly doing some really beautiful and unique block printed textiles for furnishings, and home ware. Having studied painting in her graduation from the Wimbledon college of art Louisa approaches textile printing with the same rigour. As a self-taught block printer, she approaches fabric like a painting - or one of her charcoal drawings - creating delicate, twisting patterns that repeat themselves across its surface. Distinctive in their simple use of geometric form, monochromatic palette and signature dash of hand-painted colour, Louisa’s hand-carved block printed patterns are charged with a human touch, the irregularities that appear in the printing process giving each piece a distinct energy and identity. In this podcast we talk about Louisa’s beginnings as a young artist forging her career in the late 90s, her experiences while learning the craft in Rajasthan in India and her successful career from her home studio in Peckham.