Visit: Bernat Klein Fellowships with Cove Park - Sweden and Scotland
Swedish textile artist Moira Nilsson demonstrating work created whilst in residence at Cove Park.
Together with Cove Park in Argyll and Bute, the Bernat Klein Foundation and Stockholm’s Konstfack University of the Arts, Craft, and Design launched a new Fellowship programme for textile designers and textile artists in early 2025. These were awarded to Sweden-based designer, Moira Nilsson and Scotland-based designer Mariam Syed and included residencies at Cove Park and Konstfack, Sweden’s largest university of arts and design.
The unique opportunity brought Scotland and Sweden closer together through a shared interest in making and designing textiles. In this case, it allowed both practitioners to access the Bernat Klein archive collections in Scotland, and receive support required for the development of new work in both countries. The programme was funded by The William Grant Foundation and The Embassy of Sweden in London, and crucially included events aimed at local craftspeople and specialists as well as young people in the community. A study day involved studio visits with the artists and talks by Professor Alison Harley (Chair and Founding Trustee, Bernat Klein Foundation) and Professor Maja Gunn (Research Leader, Department of Craft, Konstfack, University of Arts, Craft & Design, Stockholm, Sweden).
Born in Serbia, Bernat Klein (1922-2014) was a textile designer, artist, and writer who emigrated to Scotland and established a successful textile design and manufacturing business in the Scottish borders. His couture fabrics were bought by some of the leading fashion houses of the day, such as Chanel and Dior, and his influence remains relevant. Throughout his life Klein practised as an artist, which informed his ideas about colour that permeated all aspects of his work as a designer. He authored two books (Eye for Colour, 1965, and Design Matters, 1976) as well as six Personal Colour Guides (1965) based on his exploration of colour and its practical application for fashion, as well as Coordinated Colour Guides for Interiors (1971).
Moira Nilsson is a textile artist based in Sweden. She explores fibres, structures, and surfaces in various materials to find both the tension and the ‘merge’ between different techniques and materials, thereby challenging traditional techniques and conventional ways of using materials to find their hidden possibilities. Nilsson often creates three dimensional shapes in textiles, something she experiments with by working with layers, stability, and density. A recurring narrative in her work is human perception of nature and our surroundings. She pays attention to what hides in the periphery, a window reflection for example, searching to express and capture what is difficult to grasp: the transparent, moving, temporary or fragile.
Mariam Syed is an award-winning weaver based in Glasgow who constructs geometric artworks that are inspired by the visual culture of her hometown Karachi, Pakistan. Discovering weaving through her love for mathematics and learning the craft from rural Pakistani artisans, Mariam strives to achieve harmony with symmetry and repetition in her woven designs. Using the double cloth weave construction, her favourite materials are silk and wool yarn. The vibrancy of silk reminds her of the beautiful colours of Pakistan and wool is quite synonymous with Britain - her home now.
