Featured Designers

Kaffe Fassett
For most of you Kaffe Fassett will need little introduction. We started our business with Kaffe over 20 years ago, and after all these years, he remains our principal designer. He is widely regarded as one of the world's leading textile artists and is, undoubtedly, one of the world's most original colorists.

Kaffe grew up in a log cabin in Big Sur, California, which his parents had bought from Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth. "It was woody and rustic and very bohemian, but there were oriental rugs on the floor and my mother had some brilliant pots from China."

After 35 years in London, Kaffe still speaks with a Californian accent. Kaffe's work is now known around the world and he is in great demand lecturing and teaching abroad. He also travels to remote areas in third world countries where he lives with local communities producing textiles, helping them to market their products to the west.

Be sure to check out his web site at www.kaffefassett.com.

Kaffe Fassett Needlepoint Designs

Margaret Murton
"I trained in both music and art," says Margaret Murton "and for almost 15 years I pursued a career in music. Art wasn't totally neglected, though, as I've always painted."

Margaret has a particular affinity with the rich compositions of older textiles and draws inspiration from Museums and Galleries. Her other great inspiration is landscape. A keen rambler, she spends many hours in the countryside.

"There's always so much to see. I never fail to come back from a walk full of ideas and enthusiasm...Every season has something to offer, but I think Spring is so exciting with all those vital greens unfurling: I think of it as Spring fireworks."

Margaret Murton Needlepoint Designs

Raymond Honeyman
Born in Perth on the river Tay, Raymond Honeyman spent his childhood drawing and painting. At art college in Dundee he started by studying painting but soon switched to printed textile design. "I realized, thinking back, that I had always been drawn to things that were rich in pattern and I discovered that I loved working in pattern and repeat."

After leaving college he worked for many of the leading British textile companies, in particular Liberty, Viyella, and Collier Campbell.

"Working with colors and getting the right balance with them is an eternal joy for me. I tell my students it's the most essential task for the textile designer - to be able to develop their own color sense and use it."

Raymond Honeyman Needlepoint Designs

 Beth Russell
Beth Russell joins our list of designers and she is warmly welcomed.  Her interpretations and adaptation of William Morris' designs are based on years of study. To successfully adapt other people's patterns, or to work in the style, reducing the number of colors and changing shapes to suit manufacturing requirements is a rare skill and I think you will agree that Beth has this skill in abundance.

"William Morris has become so much a part of my daily life that it is easy to image that I knew him."

Beth began her career in needlepoint at the Royal School of Needlework in London.  After a few years there, she decided to go out on her own and formed her company, Designers Forum.  To this day, Designers Forum manufacturers her kits to the highest specification focusing on quality above all else.

Beth Russell Needlepoint Designers

Candace Bahouth
Candace Bahouth, a New Yorker of Italian-Lebanese descent, for the past thirty years has lived in a small village in Somerset in one of England's most unspoilt rural areas.

Candace is best known as a tapestry weaver. She produces large scale pieces, examples of which are in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. A few years ago she was invited to design the church hangings for the Lady Chapel at Winchester Cathedral. Needlepoint design was a logical extension and she has been designing kits for us for over ten years.

By blending colors and weaving intricate patterns, she has created sumptuous and extravagant designs. The many designs she creates for the annual Ehrman Tapestry catalog range from waistcoats to jewelled love tokens and an array of cushions, all in fabulous hues. She is probably best known for her medieval designs - a period she has made her own.

Candace Bahouth Needlepoint Designs

Elian McCready
Elian McCready's very artistic method and joyous use of color produces needlepoint designs that glow and lift the spirit. She studied Fine Art (and photography) at Liverpool College of Art and later at Newcastle. In between she spent two years as wardrobe assistant at the drama department of the B.B.C. Here she was involved in everything from elaborate period costume dramas to space age designs for Doctor Who.

Elian settled in London and started her long association with Kaffe Fassett.

"Working with Kaffe was a richly rewarding challenge and he has been a major influence on my artistic life. I worked with Kaffe on large kits, chair coverings, wallhangings and commissions, both public and private, including a room sized carpet for the late Duchess of Westminster and a hanging for the author Ruth Rendell."

Since then Elian has branched out on her own, returning to north Wales where she grew up, to concentrate on painting and needlework.

"I want to capture the essence, the sensuality of the subject and my first response is an emotional one. I want to be able to smell the roses, stroke the petals and capture the bloom on the fruit."

Elian McCready Needlepoint Designs

Brandon is an inspiring and exciting teacher. Be sure to check out his web site at www.brandonmably.com

Brandon Mably Needlepoint Designs

Magie Hollingworth
A papier mache artist is an inspiring addition to our group of designers. Her work is an unusual combination of painterly freedom and precision and, like most of our designers, she now stitches her own designs to get the exact colour balance she requires.

"Although I started as a painter and spent many years committed to embroidery, most of my work is now made with papier mache. My recycled paper works are exhibited throughout the UK and abroad. I work from home and value each privileged day. Painting, paper and textiles are my passions."

"I sew each piece with only outlines as a guide - the rest is magical and maddening, for in the pursuit of excellence, there is much unpicking, but I'm utterly besotted and even relish the many, many hours of stitching."

Magie Hollingworth Needlepoint Designs

Mollie Favour
An American artist, originally from Oregon who now lives and works in Los Angeles. All of her work explores nature in one way or another.  Although primarily a painter, she is also well known for her ceramics. In the 2005-2006 catalog, we featured "Kelp Seascape", a limited edition that is all now sold.Her "Ocean" limited edition in the 2006-2007 catalog, captures the vibrant colors and shifting patterns of the underwater world.

All of Mollie's work explores nature in one way or another from the landscape painting she does in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the vast abstract canvases she paints in Venice Beach where she lives.  She also paints more intricate studies of flora - seed pods in particular - often distorted and semi-abstracted to capture the essence of her subject.  Examples of her work can be found in public, private and corporate collections around the world.

Mollie Favour Needlepoint Designs