I am delighted to write that my hand woven artwork Long Loops (2019) (pictured) has been shortlisted for the International KOGEI Award in Japan. Long Loops will be featured in an exhibition in Toyama in September - October 2020. The award 'aims to draw the future vision of crafts by reconsidering the stereotypical concept of traditional crafts once from an unbiased perspective, capturing the global trends in crafts that are becoming more and more borderless and cross-fields, and creating opportunities for international networks and collaboration' International KOGEI Award - https://kogeiaward.jp/en/outline.html

I am very excited to announce that I will be the weaver in residence at the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch during London Craft Week 2020 (April 29th & 30th). I will be running a weaving installation in the public lobby of the hotel. Come along to see me and Timothy (my 1960s loom) weaving my latest handwoven passementerie artwork.

Last month I was interviewed by Laura Connelly for Material Source. I'm delighted to say that the full article is now available to read online (scroll down to find the link for the full article)

You’re one of the only hand passementerie weavers left in the UK - can you tell us how you got started?

"I’ve always loved textiles and trimmings and I’ve always collected scraps and bits and bobs. It wasn’t until I was a student at Central Saint Martins that I learnt about passementerie. We undertook a short project to produce trimmings and I was hooked. For the rest of my time there I taught myself the basics of passementerie.
"I continued to teach myself techniques, mainly by studying drawings and looking at antique examples. I worked for two years between CSM and the RCA (freelancing and selling passementerie samples). At the RCA I continued to teach myself more skills and I also experimented with scaling my designs."

In your view, why is this skill dying out?

"I believe there is a number of reasons for this: 1.Tastes – The use of passementerie surges in popularity in times where ornateness and maximalism were popular – such as the 1980s. Good passementerie is also expensive to purchase/commission and I think a lot of people are unsure of how to use it.
"I also believe it's dying out as there isn’t anywhere you can actually go to learn the skills. You can learn to create a simple tassel easily but anything more than this is very complicated. The creation of passementerie is also so time consuming and laborious – you need to be extremely patient and happy to sit at a loom for hours on end on your own!"

​https://www.materialsource.co.uk/elizabeth-ashdown-on-passementerie-weaving-instagram-and-the-importance-of-colour/ 

Late last year I was invited by the Clothworkers' Company to create twenty-five hand woven artworks using my signature passementerie style. The Clothworkers' Company were looking for a contemporary and fresh design based on their branding and history as a company. I created the twenty-five artworks, that were then turned into award trophies and given to winner of the Charity Governance Awards, a scheme the Clothworkers' Company runs.