MEET OUR MAKERS

LLIO JAMES

weaver / Gwehydd

I’m a contemporary hand weaver encompassing traditional Welsh design in today's language.

After a few years studying, and overseas employment in the textile industry in New York and Scotland I returned home to further my craft in Wales. One of my main interests is to develop the relationship between hand weaving and the traditional woollen industry within Wales. The feeling of belonging to country and culture is important to me and one way of expressing this is through my work. I see weaving as a way to bring together industry and culture.

I work on a traditional dobby loom which fills every corner of my small attic studio in Aberystwyth. Living and working in the same space allows me to experiment with colour, pattern and yarns. It also allows me to see how the cloth works in day to day spaces before developing my design choice. Colour is a big part of the design process, looking at proportion, scale and geometric shapes. I create paper designs to see what ideas develop, and then move on to the loom. When hand weaving bespoke cloth, the design develops as I weave enabling me to adapt the work as it grows. As a hand weaver I’m able to adapt the work as it grows. Using my hands and eyes to build a contemporary cloth. Woking with wool, I hand weave bespoke cloth for interiors, but more importantly I hand weave cloth to be handled, to be used and to be loved generation after generation.

Dwi’n wehydd llaw sy’n cyfuno cynlluniau traddodiadol Gymreig yn frethyn cyfoes.

Ar ôl dysgu’r sgiliau cychwynnol yn Ysgol Gelf Manceinion es ymlaen i gwblhau MA mewn astudiaethau dylunio ym Mhrifysgol Bath Spa. Ces gyfnod o weithio o fewn y diwydiant gwehyddu yn Efrog Newydd a’r Alban cyn dychwelyd i Gymru i barhau fy nghrefft. Dwi eisiau datblygu’r berthynas rhwng gwehyddu â llaw a’r diwydiant gwlân yng Nghymru. Mae’r teimlad o berthyn i wlad a diwylliant yn bwysig a dwi’n mynegu hyn trwy fy ngwaith. Teimlad yn yr isymwybod o fod yn gartrefol; teimlo’n gyfforddus yn fy nghynefin naturiol. Yn y maes yma daw diwydiant a diwylliant yn un, dod a’r ddau ynghyd yw fy nod.

O fy stiwdio bach uwchben Bae Ceredigion dwi’n defnyddio gwŷdd draddodiadol sy’n llenwi’r gofod. Dwi’n creu samplau gwahanol i arbrofi gyda chynlluniau, lliwiau ag edafedd; byw gyda nhw, ‘u teimlo nhw, ‘u defnyddio nhw am rai wythnosau cyn penderfynu pa rai aiff ymlaen i gael ‘u cynhyrchu gan y felin lleol. Mae edrych ar liw yn rhan fawr o’r broses ddylunio i fi, yn ogystal a chreu dyluniadau papur i weld pa syniadau sy'n datblygu. Yna, ymlaen i'r gwŷdd.