Conversation Pieces gauntlets

Conversation Pieces gauntletsNeat little wristwarmers knitted in 100% extra fine merino. Very soft! The Conversation Pieces motif shows differently when worn on left and right hands. Design The colour shifting motif is in part inspired by Anni Albers manipulation of a restricted palette to create further colour. Here, three yarns give six colours. Sizing & fit Sizes available: one size. These stretch to fit the hand: the width given is the unstretched measurement. A (width): 8cm

Neat little wristwarmers knitted in 100% extra-fine merino. Very soft! The Conversation Pieces motif shows differently when worn on left and right hands.

Design

The colour-shifting motif is in part inspired by Anni Albers’ manipulation of a restricted palette to create further colour. Here, three yarns give six colours.

Sizing & fit

Sizes available: one size. These stretch to fit the hand: the width given is the ‘unstretched’ measurement.

• A (width): 8cm
• B (length): 18cm

All knitwear is individually made, so measurements given are approximate.

Materials

• 100% extra-fine merino wool (Oeko-Tex Standard 100)

Manufacture

We are committed to sustaining and being part of UK knitwear manufacturing – and Shetland’s place in this.

• We design Nielanell knitwear in our Hoswick studio, with initial concepts carefully translated into the flat panels needed to make up each piece.
• Currently, for this garment, we are working with specialist knitters in Mainland UK to make these panels.
• The garment itself is made in Shetland. Our in-house team in Hoswick transforms the flat panels into a wearable piece of knitwear using linking (a skilled knitting process) and hand-finishing.
• Our knitwear is made in very small batches, slowly. Each piece of Nielanell knitwear can take approximately 12-16 weeks (often longer) from weighing out the yarn needed in our studio to the garment being ready to wear.
  

Conversation Pieces textile in the Nielanell studio.

Design inspiration & process

Conversation Pieces is a celebration of friendship, and particularly the big ideas that we discuss with our friends. In the Covid era these in-person meetings have been suspended, so this collection is in a sense a time capsule of life before Covid.

I met with two artist friends, who both live in different countries, in London in early 2019. This was a trip for exhibition-going, an annual event, with one of the shows being Anni Albers at Tate.

I was so inspired by Albers' use of colour in her textiles

Albers work became the inspiration for a colour-shifting collection, worked in a restricted palette, which I combined with my ideas about discussion and debate. On these trips there is a great deal of debate! Our ideas on subjects can be so different, but they can also overlap—and be changed through discussion.

One of my linocuts produced during the design process, with Conversation Pieces swatches: the printed motif made its way into the textile.

I reached the final textile design through various steps, including linocut printing to create a motif.