Design Exhibition Threadspell
Design Exhibition Threadspell
Threadspell , a traditionally useful object—a wool rug—is transformed into a sculptural gesture, disrupting its expected function and reimagining it as art. Handwoven with wool and hardened through a crystallization process, the piece teeters between softness and solidity, utility and ornament. This work explores the tension between domestic labor and fine art, inviting viewers to reconsider the boundary between the practical and the poetic. By crystallizing a textile made for touch, the artist both preserves and estranges it, blurring the lines between what we live with and what we revere.
About the Host
Rachel Ehlin Smith
Rachel Ehlin Smith is a San Diego-based artist and weaver whose work explores the space between function and form. Using traditional textile techniques, she creates sculptural pieces that often begin as familiar domestic objects—like rugs or bouquets—before shifting into something unexpected. Rooted in the language of craft, her practice is inspired by the natural world, domestic rituals, and the quiet, transformative magic of materials. Whether weaving silk or crystallizing wool, she looks for the moment when utility gives way to wonder—when something ordinary becomes slightly enchanted, and the familiar slips into the realm of the poetic or surreal.
