"With Macrogauzes you are two completely different people – when you are working out the design on paper you are using your aesthetic sense, sense of proportion and so on. When you are making it, you are an engineer – you have to be absolutely sure the tension is correct. So after acting as an artist to design the drawing you become a technician to make it as perfect as possible" – Peter Collingwood (1922-2008)
I first came across Peter Collingwood's marvellous woven constructions purely by chance at an exhibition featuring the work of ceramists Magdalene Odundo, Hans Coper and Collingwood in 2022, (here). It was a thrilling introduction to his woven, geometric sculptural forms composed of intricate thread patterns. I was amazed at their complexity and the way in which they deliberately occupied space like actual sculptures. I came across another of his pieces on a visit to Tate Britain over a year ago and his work still held a particular fascination. I was delighted then to come across this small but powerful display of his work at a branch of Margaret Howell's clothing and lifestyle shops on Wigmore Street. I hadn't returned to this branch since my last visit approximately a year ago to see Lucienne Day's equally powerful silk mosaics (here). Collingwood is celebrated as a renowned and skillful weaver, teacher and significant collector of historical textiles from other cultures. Whilst in Jordan working as a surgeon for the Red Cross Collingwood began collecting textiles and built his own loom in order to understand and make his own fabric constructions. On returning to the UK he trained at Ditchling under another renowned weaver Ethel Mairet, and then followed this with a period at Edinburgh Weavers. On setting up his own studios in the early 1950s Collingwood cultivated an influential client list and began to accept major commissions and lecturing opportunities. During this period he pioneered the techniques of ‘shaft-switching’, ‘sprang’ and ‘ply-splitting’. These Microgauze wall hangings are important in weaving in that they broke away from traditional weaving techniques, in which vertical warp threads cross horizontal weft, to instead envisage a warp that could move at angles from the vertical to cross, separate, twist and merge. Using specially constructed looms and multiple rigid heddles, he invented a new weaving language that emphasised structure and geometric form. Collingwood created more than 250 Macrogauze wall hangings pushing the technical boundaries of weaving to new levels over a 30 year period. Unsurprisingly given the sculptural aspects of many of the Macrogauze works there were many important commissions from architects and interior designers across the world. This was an amazing exhibition to come across, beautifully executed and staged by the team at Margaret Howell.
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