To mark the ending of She Shed: Contemporary wool craft at the Petone Settlers Museum, Vita Cochran is offering a rag rug making workshop. Learn an easy and enjoyable technique for making hooked rugs from old worn-out woollen garments and fabric. This craft, invented out of necessity in times past, is having a resurgence today as we look for ways to conserve resources and beautify our surroundings. There is great satisfaction in redirecting materials that would otherwise go to waste into a unique handmade object—a rug for the floor—which is imbued with history.

By the end of the workshop, you will have discovered the history of rag rugs, learnt how to choose and prepare materials, learnt the technique of hooking and started making a small sample rug. You will leave brimming with ideas for future projects.

All materials and equipment are provided, and no experience is necessary.

Vita Cochran is a textile artist from Aotearoa now gratefully living and making on Gadigal land, Sydney. Her work engages with the history of domestic crafts, the traffic between decorative art and modernism, and a drive to elevate and re-invigorate textile practices of the past. Thoughtful use and re-use of materials is an important part of her practice. Vita’s work has been seen recently at the Dowse in Stories we Tell Ourselves and currently in She Shed: Contemporary Wool Craft at Petone Settlers Museum, curated by Bronwyn Lloyd. Vita is represented by Anna Miles Gallery in Auckland.