It was my grandmother’s Jamdani sari that set me on my journey into cloth: a fascination with the stories of that fabric woven for the Moghuls to questions about the weaver’s relevance in the present day and the dynamics of heritage. Textiles evoke memory; the contours of the wearer remain where cloth sags, frays and stains. I still have that original Jamdani sari, lovingly hand woven all those years ago.

I am intrigued by the imperfections in hand woven fabric, the randomness of pattern and faded narratives embedded in cloth. Flaws give a cloth value, signalling the hand of the maker. This theme is reflected in my own hand made pieces often dyed to seep colour and expose the threads where warp and weft fail to meet. My work can literally be ‘...traced back to the event of a thread’ as sections of warp come away from the cloth and then rejoin to reveal the hands that make it continually deconstructing and reconstructing the same cloth.

By highlighting the geometry of weave and playing with strong colour inspired by my own cultural journey from Bangladesh, I like to bring a modern aesthetic to an ancient craft. My work is often influenced by the sharp lines of Modernist Bauhaus design interwoven with pops of vibrant colour. The pieces have a duality about them that can’t be placed, such as the ethereal Jamdani muslin scarves which create a sense of light and space but layer with solid, dark motifs or my contemporary but cosy blankets.