Counterculture design legend Kaffe Fassett: “I am this weird beast – a man who does textiles”
It took two tries for knitter and textile designer Kaffe Fassett to buy his four-storey Victorian home in north London. In 1971, he obtained a floor with a deposit of £400 but had to wait 20 years before buying the rest. “When I got into textiles, no one was doing what I was doing with color. I think a lot of old hippies loved it, but some people thought I was a disgrace to the industry,” he says. "It took me a while to make money."
After a chance encounter with director John Schlesinger at a party, Fassett handed him a copy of James Leo Herlihy Cowboy's Midnight, suggesting he make a movie out of it. Flipping through, Schlesinger told Fassett it was “too depressing – but before I knew it, Dustin Hoffman had been cast, then they called me into Schlesinger's office, told me to sign a piece of paper, gave me £5,000 and said no. ask for more. This "hunter's tax" became a down payment on the rest of the house.
In the niche world of textiles and knitwear, 84-year-old Kaffe Fassett (the name, he says, rhymes with "of course") is both king and maverick, overturning the idea that crafting is a housewife's hobby. Growing up in Big Sur, California in the 1940s and 1950s, Fassett moved to Boston to paint, working her way through New York art circles before ending up in London, via Bath, in the late 1900s. 1960s. "People said I was in the right place at the right time for what I was doing," he says, "but really I was just drawn to the whole experimental thing, Portobello Road, hippy Beatles. "
Always very painter, Fassett made a trip to a spinning mill e of Scottish wool in 1968 with his friend, designer Bill Gibb. What he saw there—a kaleidoscope of colorful threads in the back room—changed Fassett's life. He decided he wanted to make himself a colorful sweater, so he bought 20 yarns, persuaded a stranger on the train back to London to teach him how to knit "and here I am now - this weird beast, a man who makes textiles".
Over the past 30 years, Fassett has transformed his London home from "a mess" into four floors of freewheeling color, merging in a vision of homeliness and maximalism. Barely a corner of the home is spared a Fassett print or textile, each room is a hodgepodge of past and present. In the living room, traditional armchairs are upholstered with her vibrant embroidery and sit alongside lemon-and-green patterned wallpaper inspired by her watercolors.
The landings are covered with vegetal wall hangings knitted ("People were horrified, but I love vegetables - they have such a shape") and w...
It took two tries for knitter and textile designer Kaffe Fassett to buy his four-storey Victorian home in north London. In 1971, he obtained a floor with a deposit of £400 but had to wait 20 years before buying the rest. “When I got into textiles, no one was doing what I was doing with color. I think a lot of old hippies loved it, but some people thought I was a disgrace to the industry,” he says. "It took me a while to make money."
After a chance encounter with director John Schlesinger at a party, Fassett handed him a copy of James Leo Herlihy Cowboy's Midnight, suggesting he make a movie out of it. Flipping through, Schlesinger told Fassett it was “too depressing – but before I knew it, Dustin Hoffman had been cast, then they called me into Schlesinger's office, told me to sign a piece of paper, gave me £5,000 and said no. ask for more. This "hunter's tax" became a down payment on the rest of the house.
In the niche world of textiles and knitwear, 84-year-old Kaffe Fassett (the name, he says, rhymes with "of course") is both king and maverick, overturning the idea that crafting is a housewife's hobby. Growing up in Big Sur, California in the 1940s and 1950s, Fassett moved to Boston to paint, working her way through New York art circles before ending up in London, via Bath, in the late 1900s. 1960s. "People said I was in the right place at the right time for what I was doing," he says, "but really I was just drawn to the whole experimental thing, Portobello Road, hippy Beatles. "
Always very painter, Fassett made a trip to a spinning mill e of Scottish wool in 1968 with his friend, designer Bill Gibb. What he saw there—a kaleidoscope of colorful threads in the back room—changed Fassett's life. He decided he wanted to make himself a colorful sweater, so he bought 20 yarns, persuaded a stranger on the train back to London to teach him how to knit "and here I am now - this weird beast, a man who makes textiles".
Over the past 30 years, Fassett has transformed his London home from "a mess" into four floors of freewheeling color, merging in a vision of homeliness and maximalism. Barely a corner of the home is spared a Fassett print or textile, each room is a hodgepodge of past and present. In the living room, traditional armchairs are upholstered with her vibrant embroidery and sit alongside lemon-and-green patterned wallpaper inspired by her watercolors.
The landings are covered with vegetal wall hangings knitted ("People were horrified, but I love vegetables - they have such a shape") and w...
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