Menu

Cally Booker MSDC

Woven Textiles

About Cally
Cally Booker is a handweaver based in Dundee and draws much of her inspiration from the city: from the grandeur of its waterfront setting to the details of quirky buildings and everyday living. In both exhibition pieces and micro-collections of functional textiles under the Bonny Claith label, Cally makes extensive use of multi-layered weaves. The interplay of different layers of colour gives her work its distinctive appeal. Cally is passionate about making things by hand and shares her love of weaving through The Weaving Space, a programme of workshops based in her colour-filled studio.
Website
Biography Back to top

Cally is a textile designer, a maker, a writer and a teacher, but above all, she is a handweaver. Everything she does in her creative practice, from drawing to dyeing, ultimately leads back to the interlacement of warp and weft. Weaving is a craft which can be meticulously planned or improvised at the loom, and a combination of these approaches appeals to the different parts of her nature.

She makes extensive use of multi-layered warps and complex weave structures. The interplay of different layers of colour gives her work a distinctive appeal. In her most recent work she has begun to explore the natural colour palette, using up-to-date ecological methods of working with natural dyestuffs, and is focused on developing the sustainability of her practice.

Cally has a longstanding interest in using social and environmental data as a design source. Since 2018 she has been a participant in the Aural Textiles project, which explores the use of the Scottish soundscape as a basis for collaborative design practice.

Resumé Back to top

Recent Exhibitions and Events

Borders Art Fair, Kelso (2020)

Shift Canada residency, Nova Scotia (2019)

Scottish Craft Showcase, Yokohama (2019)

Hybrid Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid (2019)

Tangible Sounds, Forres, Scotland (2018)

Craft Scotland Summer Show, Edinburgh (2018)

The Hand of the Maker, Society of Designer Craftsmen, London (2018)

Complexity, Reno, NV (2018)

Meet Your Maker, National Museum of Scotland & Craft Scotland, Edinburgh (2016)

Dundee International Design Festival, Dundee (2016)

Crafted, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee (2015)

Meet Your Maker, Craft Scotland, Fife (2015)

Education

HNC Handwoven Textile Design, Bradford School of Arts & Media (2007)

Affiliations

Past President, Complex Weavers

Other Makers in Woven Textiles
  • Fleur Andreas MSDC

    Fleur is a traditional designer-maker of woven textiles, who seeks fluidity and rhythm of design in her use of colour, texture and pattern....

    View profile
  • Susi Clark LSDC

    Susi is a designer and weaver of contemporary cloth that can be hung on the wall or over a window, of home textiles and a range of scarves...

    View profile
  • Kendall Clarke MSDC

    Kendall Clarke makes two and three-dimensional textiles for exhibition and installation. Her work is concept-led and driven by...

    View profile
  • Rebecca Connolly LSDC

    Rebecca is a woven textile designer and hand-weaver, creating designs for interiors & accessories in British Wool with natural dyed colour.

    View profile
  • Jan Garside LSDC

    Jan is an award winning artist working mainly in hand woven art textiles. Limited editions and bespoke work are her hallmark.

    View profile
  • Ruth Holt MSDC

    With a life that has been anchored in both the City of London and Suffolk, Ruth designs and weaves scarves of subtle and shifting colour.

    View profile
  • Margaret Jones FSDC

    Tapestries tell stories. Margaret Jones work is no different, she works in sequence, each work moving the narrative onwards. The tales are...

    View profile
  • Mayumi (bottega YU) MSDC

    The exciting forms and transparent nature of her woven fabrics is provided by the unique properties of yarn made from Japanese paper.

    View profile
  • Sharon Kearley MSDC

    Sharon Kearley is a textile artist making mixed media artworks and sculptural objects for contemporary spaces. Sharon is very much driven...

    View profile
  • Rosemary Levy MSDC

    From furnishing and dress fabrics to stair carpets, Rosemary now weaves mainly scarves and wall hangings. Her love of music, architecture...

    View profile
  • Heidi Lichterman HONORARY-FELLOW

    Heidi's been weaving in silk since 1977. The way silk feels and the way it takes the dye, allows her to create very subtle colour blending...

    View profile
  • Pat Moloney FSDC

    Pat Moloney is a contemporary Textile Artist. Inspired by the inherent tactile and sensory qualities of both structured and woven...

    View profile
  • Louise Nason MSDC

    Louise is a weaver who uses natural fibres and dyes to create textiles for interiors. Her designs respond to light and space.

    View profile
  • Teresa C Strachan MSDC

    Teresa is a woven textile designer maker of unique designs using sustainable and ecological hand dyed yarns which produce finished one of a...

    View profile
  • Edna Thearle MSDC

    Edna's textural handwoven accessories are characterized by mixing natural yarns, and exploring the unpredictability of Indigo dyed materials

    View profile
  • Sally Weatherill MSDC

    Sally Weatherill has always been passionate about art and textiles and studied both art history and printed/woven textiles in the US before...

    View profile
  • Moira Diane Wood MSDC

    Diane is a cloth weaver with a passion for sharing creative skills. She is lead artist with The Big Weave, a socially engaged practice...

    View profile