Shop Update Live October 4th
The dramatic grey clouds are building as I look down Okanagan Lake from the CLOTH TONE studio. Just in time for the cooler weather rolling in, CLOTH TONE has updated its online shop with many new pieces shown at IDS Vancouver last week. Highlighting a second Winter Wool series (5 wool variations on a shared linen warp), several special one of kind textiles and a Nordic inspired A Stone’s Throw series! All of this work is a dedication to the development of vernacular textile language that prioritizes locally sourced and milled fibre (sheep’s wool), complex organic textures and functionality in beautiful forms.
Textiles to resonate with your home, your body and with nature!
DISTRICT DESIGN MARKET at IDS VANCOUVER SEPT 25-28
We’re thrilled to be included in this year’s District Design Market at IDS VANCOUVER, at the Vancouver Convention Center West, Booth D9 ! We have two new beautiful series of wool throws to share that both utilize BC wool and organic linen. Unique, embodied, artisanal textiles to transform the way you think about interior decorating and the objects we choose to surround ourselves with.
We would love to see you at Booth D9 over the weekend!
Artist Showcase: Cloth Tone & Guests - June 21 & 22
Join us at the beautiful Arrowleaf Cellars in Lake Country, BC for an artist showcase of textiles and ceramics over the solstice weekend!
https://www.arrowleafcellars.com/news-events/as-1
Cloth Tone presents Midsummer, a whimsical exhibition of handwoven textiles, featuring ceramics by Grey Sage Studio and Daryn Wright. The artist showcase includes a live weaving demo on a custom warp-weighted loom, specially created for Weaving the Wool Future, a project culminating in a large rya weaving made from locally sourced, regenerative wool.
Based in Lake Country, BC, Cloth Tone is a textile studio focused on sustainable, handwoven textiles made from local wool and organic linen. Using traditional floor looms, their work emphasizes texture, colour, and emotional resonance, blending craft traditions with themes of sustainability, contemporary design, and consumer culture.
Textiles and ceramics will be available for purchase!
Saturday June 21 & Sunday June 22, 11am-5pm
Location - Cellar Room*
Free admission
*Please Note: This event takes place in our Cellar Room which is accessible by two flights of stairs. Please get in touch by emailing wineshop@arrowleafcellars.com if wheelchair or alternate access is required.
Curated collection at Olive & Elle
Cloth Tone is pleased to have a curated collection of handwoven wool, alpaca and linen textiles for living at the beautiful Olive & Elle Boutique in Kelowna, BC at 1585 Pandosy Street. Alpaca Field Cloth, Winter Wool, Petit Tapis Laine and Linen Hands are all represented in the collection. Textiles are available in store with selected pieces online. You can also purchase our fresh and woodsy aromatic Linen Mist with natural oils of Balsam Fir, Cedar, Juniper, and Pine.
Alicia Meier, the new owner of Olive & Elle (and its’ impeccable sister store, Textile Apparel) is focused on connecting with sustainable, local, luxury design practices! Cloth Tone is so grateful for her vision and support.
CLOTH TONE at Toque, Sat Nov 30 + Sun Dec 1
Weaving the Wool Future
Cloth Tone has been working behind the scenes on a special project entitled, Weaving the Wool Future.
Focusing on the interwoven narrative between textiles, place and community, this project will explore what it means to create a local, handwoven, biodynamic textile. The geographic, environmental and cultural implications of using raw unspun wool sourced from the central Okanagan will guide the direction of this community art project.
While focusing on the value of sourcing locally, the traceability of materials, and paying attention to the organic and sensorial qualities of sheep's wool, this project values direct material experiences and local artisanal skills.
Weaving the Wool Future will culminate in a large, handwoven rya style weaving using raw wool sourced from local, small grazing orchards that actively implement regenerative farming practices. The sheep fleece was hand washed and dried in the sun. The initial phase of the weaving was collectively woven in public space on a custom built, upright, warp-weighted loom constructed from wood sourced from a local mill. The traditional loom weights are hand constructed in clay by Vancouver-based ceramicist and artist, Hillary Webb.
Special thanks to the City of Kelowna for funding to help make this project possible.
Winter of Wool and Biodynamic Textiles
Raw sheep’s wool reigns in the realm of the senses and has been instrumental in creating connections between nature and culture throughout the ancient history of textiles. Wool’s characteristics of malleability, density, rich textures, strong earthy scent, a greasiness to the touch and raw materiality speaks clearly to its origins in agriculture. Wool is currently at the centre of conversations around sustainable materials, regenerative farming practices, the climate beneficial wool cycle, local fibersheds and slow fashion. In the tradition of Arte Povera, making work that blurs the distinction between art, craft and life, I am engaged with reimagining slow textile futures and weaving a local, biodynamic textile using raw, unspun wool. Throughout the next few months I’ll be visiting local wool producers, sourcing local raw wool, and continuing my design work with weaving raw wool into plain weave structures and felting into dense, textural textiles.
Jannis Kounellis
(1936, Grèce - 2017, Italie)
Sans titre
1968
(Photo taken at Centre Pompidou, Paris in 2019)
Holiday Market in Okanagan Center! Saturday December 16, 10-5pm
Holiday Pop-Up, DEC 17, 10-5pm, Okanagan Centre Community Hall, Lake Country
Toque Craft Fair, Dec 2-4 2022
Many thanks to everyone who came out in support of the Western Front and all of the beautiful vendors at the Toque Craft Fair this year!! Cloth Tone is so grateful to everyone who stopped by to enjoy some handwoven textiles. Larissa xo
CLOTH TONE for CLAYOQUOT WILDERNESS LODGE : SERIES II
Throughout the fall/winter of 2021, Cloth Tone was immersed in the production of a new series of custom, handwoven cushions in organic linen and cotton for the Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge on Vancouver Island. This new series, ‘Tabis’ and ‘Parallèlle’ in an olive and natural join Cloth Tone’s previous series of wool cushions created for the redesign in 2020. This project was an opportunity for Cloth Tone to mentor two new weavers from the local community in anticipation of similar projects to come! Thank you so much to Forest @tomatodailyhalfacre and Janet @janetsteinjewelry for their contributions to the textile studio this winter. The work looks amazing and is definitely the largest commission we’ve completed to date!
xo Larissa
TOQUE CRAFT FAIR
Cloth Tone at Western Front’s annual fundraiser and community event, Toque Craft Fair!
CLOTH TONE for CLAYOQUOT WILDERNESS LODGE : SERIES I
CLOTH TONE was excited and honoured to be invited to design and weave a series of interior cushions for the Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge redesign on Vancouver Island. Using wool sourced from small fibre farms on Vancouver Island, Cloth Tone created a series of cushions inspired by the local west coast landscape. All of the work was woven and sewn by Lindsay, our assistant Amy and myself in our lakeside and ranch studios throughout the winter and spring of 2021.
Now, already late into 2021, I am completing a second commission for a new series of interior textiles in cotton and organic linen to launch in April 2022.
Image: Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge, 2021
