Sophie Cagniart works primarily with discarded textiles, using traditional craft techniques as a starting point for material exploration and transformation.
Her practice moves between established forms of textile craftsmanship and contemporary experimentation, with a particular interest in texture, repetition, time and the traces left by the hand.
Practice
MATERIAL
She works with existing and discarded textiles, particularly everyday materials such as cotton sheets, linen and denim. Their previous lives, imperfections and traces are not removed but become part of the material itself. Through transformation, these ordinary fabrics are given new functions and new ways of being seen.
Techniques
Traditional techniques such as shibori, Sashiko, boutis, weaving, smocking and natural dyeing form the foundation of her textile practice. Rather than reproducing these techniques unchanged, she studies their structures, rhythms and possibilities to develop new textures, patterns and surfaces by combining them.
one of a kind sustainable fashion handmade embroidery
Transformation
Existing textiles are repeatedly transformed through cutting, stitching, folding, dyeing, weaving and reconstruction. A material can change its function, appearance and perceived value while retaining traces of its previous life.
THE WEARABLE
The body and the wearable remain an important point of reference within her practice. Her background in fashion continues to inform her approach to silhouette, proportion and the relationship between textile and body, even as the work increasingly moves beyond clothing towards objects and installation.
WORKSHOPS
Sophie Cagniart has also developed and delivered workshops introducing hands-on approaches to Japanese Sashiko