Caitlin Smith

The focus of this work is an exploration of how textiles and metals can mix to create beautiful and strange pieces. Looking at the hands that created the intricate pieces of the past, I examine how this process affected the hands of the makers and the wearers. This intrigued me, as my great-grandmother was a crochet lace maker who made beautiful Irish lace pieces most of her life.

Taking the Victorian era of lacemaking as a starting point, it is their renowned morbid sensibilities that pique my interest. The extent of this can be seen through extant mourning clothes and accessories. This coincides with how some techniques and dyes were highly toxic and even fatal, which directed this work. What if the beauty of Victorian techniques and craftsmanship depicted the way in which these pieces infected and even killed the women who made and wore these beautiful pieces? This idea inspired the name of my collection, ‘Pretty Deadly’.