KATE MALONE TASSEL WORKS AT TEFAF MAASTRICHT

KATE MALONE TASSEL WORKS AT TEFAF MAASTRICHT 2026

Kate Malone shares her inspiration for her new work showing at TEFAF Maastricht.

“I have been inspired to make a series of tassel-like pots for many reasons.  In 2015, I spent over a year studying the contents of Waddesdon Manor, the objective was to have an exhibition of my work inspired by the house and the collections.  I was very much intrigued by the Waddesdon passementerie; the braiding, the trimming, the tassels and attachments to upholstery and the curtains were of the highest order, and although I found them rather ostentatious, the craft process was fascinating.  I made several of my works with surfaces of knots and weaving for the exhibition, and the series has evolved since.  Such an intense period of study can take years to percolate in the creative mind, and 10 years later, I have referred to that time, and I have started to make a whole new series of tassel forms.

I have been visiting India for 40 years and have repeatedly visited Thayam ritual ceremonies in the forest jungle areas of the northernmost part of the state of Kerala, called the Malabar Coast.  Heavily costumed men ‘vacate' their bodies and become the divine, which encouraged my multiple drummers beating an ever-increasingly intense rhythm.  These rituals are hypnotic and run through the day and all night and have been maintained for thousands of years.   The costumes that adorn the deities are heavily crafted of fresh palm leaves, wool, card, textiles, and many found objects, beautifully arranged in patterns and layers.   I found myself seeing these figures in such costumes as large tassel-like shapes, and in turn, these new tassel vessels I have been making seem to assume a bodily character.   This has not been planned or conscious, and I am finding this series of work a surprise and a discovery. At the same time, the pieces look like the uncontrollable broom in Walt Disney's Fantasia, they look like 1930’s ‘flapper’ dresses or like a thatched roof.  It is these moments of subconscious creativity that are most precious to me when making.  To find a surprise at the end of a creative session of work in the studio is a delight.

I could never have imagined a fusion of French 18^th century silk passementerie with timeless Thayam deities, but that is the delight of an artistic journey.”

- Kate Malone