Maker in Residence – Lorna Hamilton Brown

Member Events

For a whole week, artist Lorna Hamilton Brown will be knitting a narrative textile about the Institute of Making in the Makespace, using her beloved collection of vintage, as well as electronic knitting machines.

Members can drop in throughout the week to see how Lorna is getting on, and add their voice to the Makespace tapestry.

If you’re not a member but are a student or staff at UCL, come by during our lunchtime looks from 12.30-2pm everyday Tuesday 17th to Friday 20th October. Lorna will be on hand to show you how it works and you can watch the knitting progress.

Lorna is a skilled artist, referred to as the ‘Banksy of Knitting’, and has used her narrative textiles within both her community work and her social activism. Lorna is keen to get more people knitting and ‘bursting the myths and stereotypes’ associated with who can knit. In the guise of 'Lorna H-B the Knitting MC' she creating a music video entitled Knitting aint Wack where she raps to teach people how to knit. She is currently in the final year of an MA in Knitted Textiles at the Royal College of Art. Her contemporary approach to knitting has led to commissions from the Royal Opera House and the BBC, and as a knitwear designer her garments have featured in Vogue Knitting and been stocked in Harrods, as well as completing knitted work for designers such as Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably.

The craft of knitting on domestic machines is Lorna’s passion. Instead of being limited to two needles, on a machine you can have hundreds of needles to work with. Patterning can be done manually, or by using special punch cards. You can even link a laptop to certain electronic machines to create custom design. Lorna rescues old machines from ending up in landfill and restores them to their former glory. She has a collection of over 15 vintage machines. Lorna is the London area representative for the Guild of Machine Knitters.