Laura Thomas is an established woven textile artist, designer and maker specialising in producing unconventional textiles for contemporary spaces.
Since her first experience of weaving in 1996, Laura has been thoroughly absorbed by its infinite scope for exploration and experimentation. She has a first-class degree from Birmingham City University, an MA from the Royal College of Art and two research fellowships under her belt, all in the weave discipline. Laura established her studio practice in South Wales in 2004 and has worked on an extremely diverse range of projects spanning public art, commercial textile design, curation, artist residencies and creating work for exhibition. Laura ‘knows’ weaving inside out, back-to-front, and this expertise is her currency.
This breadth of practice and multi-faceted approach has made her somewhat unusual in the woven textiles sphere. Whether it be site-specific art or contract upholstery design, underpinning all of Laura’s work is an inherent practical curiosity to exploit weave principles, celebrate the beauty of yarns and create striking aesthetics for this ancient craft.
Laura has work in the permanent collection of The Victoria & Albert Museum, The Powerhouse Museum (Australia), The Crafts Study Centre and the National Wool Museum, as well as numerous private collections. Laura was awarded one of the first Creative Wales Ambassador Awards from the Arts Council of Wales, and has many other accolades under her belt including a Wesley Barrell Award, Homes and Gardens Classic Design Award, Cardiff Design Festival Award, and Best Maker in Wales Award from Newport Council.
Laura’s creative practice has always been complimented by an unwavering commitment to education. To this end, she has curated a number of very well-received exhibitions with accompanying publications. In addition, Laura has been a part time BA Textiles lecturer at Carmarthen School of Art since 2004 and has also delivered lectures and been a visiting tutor at universities and colleges including Goldsmiths, Falmouth, Surrey, Nottingham Trent, Hereford, Swansea and Tokyo Zokei University. Laura also has extensive experience delivering workshops in schools, community groups, galleries and guilds.
