About

NOW Gallery is pleased to present its 2024 Fashion Commission, ‘Socks: The Art of Care and Repair’, by London based textile artist Celia Pym.

Focusing on the concept of sustainability in fashion and our lives more broadly, Socks: The Art Of Care And Repair will celebrate the everyday act of mending through darning. Central to the exhibition will be a vibrant, colourful installation of 488 socks, each stitched and darned by the Surrey Square Primary School community in Southwark using industry ‘warehouse’ waste socks. Children, staff and families of the school, learnt and practised their darning and stitching skills on socks, during a series of 26 workshops facilitated by Pym in early 2024.

In addition to the school’s mended socks, there will be a map of socks belonging to Pym’s friends and family - people she loves and cares for - mended visibly by Pym herself, in order to record patterns of wear and tear, and in styles that are designed to suit the respective sock-owners’ personalities.

The idea behind Socks: The Art Of Care And Repair is to encourage a feeling of resilience, to be able to mend something; to play creatively with colour and yarn, and to foster a sense of care for ourselves, our clothes, the environment, and the people around us.

Pym’s commission will transform NOW Gallery into a creative workshop space, with mending materials and socks to inspire the community to learn the art of darning. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own socks to the gallery to repair, and will be welcome to drop in and try their hand at darning, mending and stitching. Celia Pym’s interactive videos and step-by-step guidelines will invite all to create a unique ‘visible mend’ to either take home or put on display in the gallery. Throughout the exhibition run, visitors will also be able to book darning workshops at NOW Gallery facilitated by experts.

Programme: 
Mending Workshop with Hikaru Noguchi (1st February) - Book Now
Join NOW Gallery for a creative darning workshop led by mending specialist Hikaru Noguchi, as part of Celia Pym’s Socks: The Art of Care and Repair.

Established as a leading fabric designer since the early 90s, Hikaru’s work has been largely influenced by traditional British knit patterns and South African natural fibres and landscapes.

During this workshop, attendees will have the opportunity to sit down for an in-depth demonstration of long-lasting sock-mending techniques taught by Hikaru herself. Materials including darning mushrooms, needles and thread will be supplied.

NOW X Celia Pym Mending Night: Woven Darn with G.O.I.N.G (13th February) - Book Now
Take part in a woven darn workshop hosted by G.O.I.N.G, as part of Celia Pym’s Socks: The Art of Care and Repair.

GOING is an eclectic darning project challenging traditional methods of mending and repair. The project is run by artists Daisy Harvey + Mazlyn Ortiz. Being avid collectors of objects and textiles, both artists found common ground in their love for imperfect items with generations of stories behind them. GOING strives to regenerate not only the conventional practices of mending but to challenge the identity of the garment, using various techniques of mark making to embolden its wear.

In this workshop, participants will have the option to explore a variety of mending methods including the woven darn stitch, patchwork, tension play and layered stitch using various colours and techniques. Attendees will be encouraged to be as playful as possible and to further view the repairs as personal embellishments and creative mark making.

No prior skills are required and materials including upcycled yarns, fabric, scissors and needles will be supplied. Participants are also encouraged to bring their own darning tools but most importantly bring a damaged/torn garment made of either wool, cotton or linen for repair.

NOW X Celia Pym Mending Night: Woven Mending with Luce Thread (13th February) - Book Now
As part of Celia Pym’s Socks: The Art of Care and Repair, join Luce Thread for a woven mending workshop at NOW Gallery.

Luce Thread is a London based artist passionate about the act of repair as a means to connect with community and help in healing minds through holistic practices.

This workshop focuses on mending the wear and tear in everyday knitted items through the art of darning. Learn key techniques in woven darning, starting with knitted squares before moving on to repair your own garments. Whether it's socks, jumpers or scarves, this workshop will teach you how to restore them with skill and care.

Participants are advised to bring any damaged wool or knitted items to mend.

Materials including needles and yarn will be provided and no prior experience in darning, knitting, or needlework is required.

NOW X Celia Pym Mending Night: Speed Weaving with Sewingsmith (13th February) - Book Now
Join NOW Gallery for a speed weaving workshop hosted by Sewingsmith, as part of Celia Pym’s Socks: The Art of Care and Repair.

Learn how to mend your well-loved cottons and denims using a mini weaving loom. Based on a design that initially emerged in the 1940s, DMC’s weaving loom is a tool intended to make weaving accessible to all. In this workshop Shelley Zetuni of Sewingsmith will teach you everything you need to know about speed weaving, providing tips and tricks to make your mends look amazing! All materials will be supplied including DMC looms, denim and cotton samples. No prior experience in darning, knitting, or needlework is required.

Sock Mending with Celia Pym (15th February) - Book Now
In celebration of NOW Gallery’s 2024 Fashion Commission Socks: The Art of Care and Repair, leading textile artist Celia Pym invites you to learn the art of darning. This unique commission sees NOW Gallery transformed into a vibrant workshop space, welcoming all to explore the creative practice of visible mending.  

Throughout Winter, Pym and a team of mending experts will be on hand to support visitors with darning, mending and stitching. Bring your own well-loved socks to repair or practice the woven darn using industry ‘warehouse’ waste socks, to take home or display as part of the exhibition. These sessions are suitable for beginners to experts, all darning tools and materials will be provided. 

Making it Last: Creativity, Mending and Reuse – Celia Pym in Conversation with Patrick Grant, Ligaya Salazar and Helen Kirkum (27th February) - Book Now
Celia Pym’s NOW Gallery exhibition SOCKS: The Art of Care and Repair, focuses on mending holes in socks – extending their use and being creative with stitches. Pym says: “It is a small act of care to mend a hole in your sock or the sock of someone you love. It has a ripple-like effect. Caring for something or someone is expansive, it sets in motion something else you can’t anticipate, a gift in return, a care felt in yourself, a resilience in yourself to understand that mending is a constant action that changes the thing in front of you it does not erase damage but makes the story more interesting. A spot of bright colour or scar-like line that indicates your small act of care.”

The in-conversation event will focus on the importance of textiles and craft education; power of learning sewing and manual craft skills from a young age; and creative acts of mending your clothes to shift our relationships with clothing, consumption and waste.