About

Guided by multidisciplinary artist Tom Hallimond, this soft sculpture workshop invites participants to explore themes of care, memory and lived experience through tactile, fabric-based making. Hallimond investigates the tension between continuity and change, examining the hidden labour of care and the emotional weight carried by both carers and those they support. His work considers how we navigate an altered world, where connection is simultaneously obscured and essential, and where the everyday gestures of care become acts of quiet resistance.

Rather than striving for polished perfection, the workshop encourages an intuitive and responsive process. Seams, loose threads, visible mending, and irregular forms will be embraced as expressive elements—traces of the maker’s hand that contribute to the emotional resonance of the piece. Participants will be supported in allowing the work to evolve organically, responding to the materials as much as to the original concept.

By the end of the session, each participant will have produced a small-scale soft sculpture portrait that reflects their personal narrative, alongside a deeper understanding of how textile techniques can communicate vulnerability, memory, and presence through form.

Open to all skill levels, the workshop provides basic materials including fabric, thread and stuffing. Participants are also encouraged to bring meaningful textiles, garments or images to incorporate into their work.