Grace Atkinson's Ukraine-made textiles balance material and emotion

You may have noticed the distinctive handwoven textiles of Grace Atkinson appearing in some of the world’s most discerning interiors, galleries and magazines. Her rugs, blankets and wall hangings – made using centuries-old techniques – are rendered in vivid shades of soft wool, silk and mohair, blurring the line between home textile and art.

It’s a space the Paris-based New Zealand designer feels entirely at ease in. ‘These labels don’t matter so much to me, but they can be helpful in communicating the scope of what I do,’ she reflects. ‘My work oscillates between design and art, so it’s often the setting that contextualises it.’

Grace Atkinson: designing through collaboration

The daughter of carpet and tile sellers, and the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of costume designers and seamstresses, Atkinson grew up in Lake Wanaka, New Zealand, surrounded by textiles and the remnants of antique garments from the vintage shop her mother ran in the 1980s.

She began her career in fashion as a stylist and consultant, later moving into the art world where she worked with galleries and produced textile pieces for artists. Then, eight years ago, she began collaborating with artisans in Ukraine, gradually developing her first collection. Her studio practice formally launched in 2022, the same year she held her first show at Jacqueline Sullivan Gallery.

Since then, she has worked with artisans in Spain and Portugal, with the aim of helping to support their livelihoods and preserve their craft. ‘These collaborations have been creatively enriching,’ reflects Atkinson. ‘They challenge me to translate visual ideas into forms that work within the constraints of different techniques, and it’s so exciting to see the pieces gain new depth through the incredible skill of the artisans.’

Her design inspiration, she says, comes from everywhere and anywhere, but there are recurring motifs across her work. ‘I tend to begin with periods of deep reading and research, which always anchor the work, even if the influence is abstract,’ she explains. ‘Certain motifs have been present since early in my practice and I am interested in pushing them further, disrupting, distorting and evolving them. When I move into the design stage, I sketch very freely at first, then gradually refine and focus the ideas intuitively.’

The pieces that have really captured the design world’s imagination are the soft, furry textiles made in collaboration with Ukrainian artisans using a technique dating back to the 14th century called Hutal. Sheep’s wool is sheared, woven on wooden looms, removed and washed in the Cheremosh River – which can freeze over in the winter months, halting production. The pieces are then sun-dried and hand-brushed. Reliant on nature for each part, and made more difficult since the Russian invasion in 2022, the production process is a labour of love. ‘Beyond the professional transaction, the friendships we have built make the work far more meaningful, particularly given the adversity my collaborators in Ukraine have faced,’ she adds.

For Atkinson, that balance between material and emotion is at the heart of her practice. ‘I’m very interested in the sensuous expression of textiles and how they can modulate our environment into a source of comfort,’ she says. ‘Textiles have a powerful ability to inform our relationship to the spaces around us and how we interact within them.’ It’s this sensitivity – to touch, process and place – that gives her work its quiet intensity, and ensures each piece feels as alive as the hands that made it.