On Mending - Stories of damage and repair by Celia Pym
- Worldwide Shipping Available
The artist Celia Pym has been exploring damage and repair in textiles since 2007. Working with garments that belong to individuals as well as items in museum archives, she has broad experience with stories of damage, from moth holes to accidents with fire. This is her first book. This is not a 'how to' manual , but a personel exploration of mending - the tales of particular people and their precious garments.
On the mend
Textile language crops up in the body: mending language works on the body as well as on garments. We describe the body as mending after illness or injury – ‘I’m on the mend,’ someone might say if they’re feeling better. You might hear a doctor or nurse describe a broken bone as ‘mending well’, or broken bones are often described as knitting back together as the break heals.
Pym is interested in exploring the varied evidence of damage and how repair draws attention to the places where garments and cloth wear down and grow thin. These personal tales document the intimate damage caused to clothing by everyday use and the parallels with the consequent wear and tear on the body.
Mending work builds on what is left behind. It’s not replacing, or remaking, or cutting apart and putting back together, instead it is slow work that makes things better. It conjures an unhurried recovery or change. In textiles, the act of mending wear-and-tear, thinning cloth or accidental damage builds on what already exists, anchoring threads and yarn into the robust healthy fabric and filling in the holes or reinforcing the areas that are weak.
‘Darning is small acts of care,’ she says, ‘and paying close attention.’
The author
Celia Pym has a BA in Visual and Environmental Studies, specialising in sculpture, from Harvard University, US and an MA in Constructed Textiles from the Royal College of Art, London. She is also a trained nurse, where she honed her caring skills. Her work has been exhibited most recently in Keep Being Amazing, Firstsite, Colchester, Essex (2022), Say Less, Herald Street, London, 2022 and Eternally Yours, Somerset House, London 2022. Waste Age, Design Museum, London (2021), and On Happiness: Joy + Tranquillity, Wellcome Collection, London (2021). Siblings, Trading Museum, CDG, Paris (2020), Sewing Box for the Future, V&A Dundee (2020-21) and Material Matters, Textilmuseum, St Gallen (2020). In 2017 she was shortlisted for the Woman’s Hour Craft Prize and the inaugural Loewe Craft Prize. She is an Associate Lecturer in Textiles at the Royal College of Art in London. http://celiapym.com
Design by Fraser Muggeridge studio; photography Michele Panzeri
Softback, 96 pages, 170mm x 240mm
Pairs well with
We try and keep our postage options simple by having a flat rate based on your shipping destination. We are currently using tracked only services.
The current postage prices are as follows from 1 Jan 2023:
- UK Royal Mail 48 tracked : £3.50
- UK Royal Mail 24 tracked: £4.50
These delivery (24, 48) times are estimated from despatch and not guaranteed.
Full details can be found here.
We send goods all over the World:
- EU £15 - order value UNDER £130/150 Euros* and up to 2KG
- Rest of World £18 up to 2KG
- Rest of the World Royal Mail International Standard up to 2KG: £18.00
We aim to please and hope that you will be happy with your order. If you are not happy with your item/s and wish to return anything, then please notify us within 14 days of receiving your order. You must then return the items as instructed in their original condition and packaging within 14 days of notifying us.
Please note that the following items are excluded from being returned:
- Earrings due to hygiene reasons
- Any made to order or custom items.
Please contact us by email to grace@shopbeyondmeasure.co.uk if you wish to return an item for any reason. Please read our full returns policy for more details.