The Maker
Jacky Puzey is a contemporary embroidery artist at the intersection of design and art, combining traditional embroidery skills with digital technology to stitch stunning 3D tableaux. She explores a visual collaboration across cultures, from multicultural graffiti’d contemporary cityscapes to historical textile motifs and traditional cloths. Jacky fuses fur, feathers, velvet and organza with digital embroidery and unique fabrics of her own design, to create a menagerie of embellished creatures: squirrels chatter, foxes prowl and parakeets pirouette. Jacky’s creations combine references to classical mythology, hints of baroque decadence and a nod to punk rebellion.
The Object: Koi Lilypad Footstools, 2018
Set of 3 in variable sizes, 46, 58 or 76cm in diameter, width 58cm, maximum height 55cm. Custom designed printed velvet, digital embroidery, appliqué voile fabric, custom-made furniture frame with deep navy waxed wooden legs and traditional upholstery
Small: £3,000, medium: £4,200, large: £5,400. Set of three £11,940.
The Making
Inspired by urban landscapes and historic imagery, this design reflects the importance of Koi carp in Japanese culture as a powerful symbol for endeavour and perseverance. The footstools combine images of graffiti’d walls, watery depths and urban reflections to create a shimmering world, and are made in stages that incorporate drawing, print design, digital embroidery, appliqué, building furniture frames, traditional upholstery. Upholstery is by Leigh-Anne Treadwell of the Bristol Upholstery Collective. All of Jacky’s embroidery materials conform to the highest standards of environmental safety, and the footstool has a fire-retardant wool interliner.
Accolades
This was launched at London Craft Week 2018 for Design Nation’s Head, Hand and Heart exhibition, and was then featured in Lambart and Browne’s Decorex Champagne Bar 2018, and as part of the Notting Hill set for the Netflix/Hulu series of Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Jacky Puzey on her Signature Style
‘My practice fuses artistic concept with traditional artisanship; a disciplinary intersection between concept and materiality; art and contemporary craft. My Koi footstools are built out of layers of drawing, print, embroidery and appliqué, an ‘urban chinoiserie’ fusing Japanese cultural histories from the Koi embellished onto 19th century firemen’s Hanten jackets, as protective motifs; to contemporary urban tattoo culture. These Koi footstools exemplify the layers of research, visual dynamics and textures that go into my design style.’
Expert Eye
Jacky’s work is intricate and highly skilled but also combines beautiful artwork with a whimsical playfulness that adds that special finishing piece to lift the best of interiors. Simone Du Bois (Design Centre Chelsea Harbour)