Textiles
Zannie Doyon
Please tell us a bit about yourself. What first led you to traditional crafts?
I am a queer and neurodiverse artist from Los Angeles, currently residing in London, England with my partner and toddler. My love of traditional crafts comes from a deep interest in all heritage practices, particularly those that have functioned within a domestic setting. I have always enjoyed the material element of traditional craft, and feel very tied to the conceptual side of this work, such as how these practices are tied to social identity and community structures. I find heritage practices are often holistic gestures that align with slow ways of living, which I am always seeking to engage in. Traditional craft has helped me nurture my own relationship to place and identity, which I find invaluable.
You mentioned on your website that ¨Sweet Phyl¨ is named after your great grandmother, who was also a maker of slow crafts. How has the experience of being around her shaped your view about crafts?
I never had the opportunity to meet my great grandmother but have always felt connected to her. She was born in the 1890s to a family of quilters and crafters, and I have been told she was a gentle person who was always making. I'm sure slow craft was something she inherited from her ancestors, and her descendants have all engaged in art and craft in one way or another. I also think there is a culture in my family where the boundaries between art and the everyday are very blurred, and I believe this is in part from the values she passed down. Crafts like quilting, knitting, and sewing have always been used as gestures of connection that bridge many generations together. I’ve inherited many of her quilts this way and enjoy knowing she is with me in my daily life through these materials and the stitches she left behind.
You have a multidisciplinary approach to your practice, from mending and natural dyeing to hand embroidery. Do you happen to enjoy one over the other?
I truly enjoy them all, though I tend to work with each practice in unique ways. Part of my neurodiversity is that I tend to oscillate between hyper-productivity and fatigue, so I move through each discipline depending on my headspace. Dyeing, for example, takes an enormous amount of time, effort, materials, and organisation, so I tend to dye when I feel full of motivation and have the energy to do so. Mending is something quite low key and can be done anytime, anywhere, with very little prep. I also find that when I’m working with a dye bath or on a sewing machine I must remain very focused, while mending and embroidery is passive and gives lots of time for internal thought and reflection. I love each practice for what it offers and am grateful to be able to keep making no matter my headspace.
Can you take us through your process of natural dyeing?
Each combination of dye materials has a different process, and plant dyeing is generally a lot of work. I usually begin by scouring and mordanting the material, each of these processes take a few hours and then time to cure. Then I prepare the plant material for color extraction, which is a very enjoyable part of the process full of floral smells and surprises. The coloring process is fairly short and sweet compared to the prep work that comes before it. There is definitely a rhythm to the work, and a lot of physical labor that usually spans a few days. It’s so worth it if you can be patient enough to do it- natural dyeing is pure alchemy and will always mystify us with its color results. This element of surprise is a huge part of why I love the process.
What natural dyes do you use in developing your Sweetphyl collections?
I use lots of different kinds of plant material, some purchased from ethical suppliers and some foraged locally or occasionally grown myself. I'm very fond of foraging as a way to connect to a place and tend to collect bags and bags of plant materials as a result. I’ll often experiment with random plants in batches, not all vats are successful. I am most fond of the flower dyes as they are so lovely to work with, and I will always covet a high tannin dye like eucalyptus which smells amazing and is easy to work with. I find indigo and woad deeply fascinating, as the color bonding process is entirely different than most plant dyes. I love them all but I definitely prioritize local materials and will experiment with whatever I can find.
What are some of the personal benefits of practicing natural dyeing, mending, and hand embroidery?
A wonderful question with an answer that is hard to articulate. I guess the benefits are both enormous and unique to the person. I personally have found natural dyeing is such a beautiful way to connect to the land, and to the history and culture of color. Every time I dye, I find myself at a junction where craft and medicine intersect. Each dye bath is a potion of color and smells, and each dye plant has a million stories and uses. It is all very healing. Mending and hand embroidery are two gentle ways to make something very unique and extend the life of materials like wearable items. I also find that the more I do these practices, the more I feel grounded in their rich histories and bonded with makers from long ago.
Can you tell us more about your upcoming projects or any product development you are currently working on?
I am always working on a million ideas, some which have to do with craft and some which don’t. Sweet Phyl is always morphing into whatever it needs to be at a given moment and therefore is theoretically an endless project. My other creative work is often photographic and documentary, and I experiment a lot with natural materials. I’ve been working for the last little while on making small alters that act as an ode to place or people. Whatever I’m doing, I tend to work toward projects that connect or heal in some way, which are my intentions for Sweet Phyl as well.
Where and how can people engage more with your work?
Instagram @sweetphylco and online www.sweetphyl.com I'm always warmed by connecting with like minded people and I welcome anyone to reach out. I can also be found through my personal Instagram @zanniedoyon where I share more documents of my life and practice. All pictures belong to Zannie
