Michelle House
Textile printer
London, United Kingdom
Expressed in cloth, colour and story
- Michelle is a textile artist working with printing techniques on fabric
- Similarly to collage art, she composes with different elements to create a whole
- She combines imagery and patterns with block colour
Michelle House describes her creativity as having been influenced by a mother who sewed and crafted everything for the family, from clothes and curtains to upholstery. Michelle studied textiles at Goldsmiths and has been working as a textile artist since 1996, after receiving a setting-up grant from the Crafts Council. "I work from a studio in my garden in South London, with an enormous print table customised by my father who is a toolmaker," she shares. Michelle’s work primarily involves making hand-printed textiles, covering motifs of illustration, handwriting, texture details, photography and block colour, often inspired by personal memories and family history. Her work sits in private and public collections, including two large wall hangings commissioned for the British Academy, St James's, London, with their imagery drawn from the building's own interior architecture.
Discover her work
INTERVIEW
I print mostly on linen, but also use cotton, silk, wool and vintage cloth. The different fabrics are printed separately and then stitched together. I love the combination of textures, how those surfaces work together, the play of light, and how the ink transfers. I sometimes include needlepoint stitching to create my pieces.
My work often has a sense of place that comes from buildings or home. More recently my inspiration is related to a place in my memory, recalling people, objects, clothing, textiles, and the memories connected to these.
My mother was my source of inspiration, and the one from whom I learned about textiles. In my works for Collect Open in 2025, I included memories of all the clothes she made – the colours, the textiles, the events. I even included symbolic images of her notes, knitting needles and hooks as a celebration of her creativity.
The concepts for my work evolve over a long time. Once I have decided on images that will work well together, I do a few sketches. Then I work digitally, which allows me to change colours, scale and positioning, as well as edit my photos for silk-screens, but all this might then change once I actually start making work.
Michelle House
Textile printer
London, United Kingdom
ADDRESS
Address upon request, London, United Kingdom
AVAILABILITY
By appointment only
LANGUAGES
English
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