Bec Kirby

Bec Kirby works in the space between art and craft, and sets out to dismantle the line between them. A self-taught textile artist and painter, she builds tufted and hand-sewn works through hours of repeated gesture: hundreds of stitches, fibres brushed out by hand, wool washed and distorted until surface becomes form. The repetition is both method and meditation.

Born in Blackpool in 1992, Kirby trained in Interior Design at the University of Huddersfield and worked for architecture and design studios in Amsterdam and Manchester before turning to her practice full-time. Working from a studio in a former cotton mill near Manchester, she uses dead-stock yarns, second-hand fabrics and wool from ethically raised rare-breed sheep. Her work has featured in The World of Interiors, Elle Decoration and The Sunday Times.