Adrienne Rogers
Textile Designer
USA
As a child, Adrienne Rogers spent hours in her mother’s studio surrounded by yarn. “I would go into her studio and want to touch everything,” she remembers.
Her mother – a skilled weaver who also did her own spinning and dyeing – taught Adrienne how to knit and weave. By the age of eight, she had completed her first item: a red belt with fringe.
With skill and experimentation, Adrienne’s mother brought weaving into the world of art. Now, Adrienne follows in those footsteps. “I’m interested in fiber, fundamentally,” she says. “I primarily hand-knit. I also do felting, and I work on hand-loomed pieces.” A seasoned fiber artist, Adrienne calls yarn a natural extension of who she is.
Working from her studio in lower Manhattan, most of what Adrienne makes is knitted by hand over a period of months. “I take what is traditional and familiar, and I shift it,” she says, thinking of her works almost as sculptures. Using the intrinsic beauty of the yarn, she creates stitches that allow the yarn to “show itself”. The resulting patterns offer a sense of movement, like water or reflections.
“I want to incorporate light and shadow,” Adrienne explains. "Here in New York we're surrounded by construction. Architecture is often a source of inspiration. For example, I've made shawls with cashmere and silk. This combination allows the silk to recall and accentuate the sense of sunlight reflecting off of glass."
“I think people relate to knitting. They connect to it in terms of their parents or grandparents. There's comfort and nostalgia - or even a sense of glamour when wrapping yourself in it"
"Today, when so many things are manufactured, you may feel that 'no one has ever made anything especially for me.' With my knitting, I hope to offer a unique personal experience."
