Frida Kahlo at the Tate, Sustainable Fashion, A Debut Novel, and More

June was an absolute whirlwind of a month, but a major highlight was our visit to the press preview of the new Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Tate Modern in London. Both of us being huge Frida Kahlo fans (who isn’t?), Lydia since childhood, seeing the preview of this exhibition felt like a milestone moment. More about that below, but first, our June roundup!

Meghan has been thrilled to join Lydia at the studio space in Norwich where she has worked for the past few years. We are lucky to share the space with an incredibly talented group of creatives and Meghan has been mooning over their work since her arrival. So what better time than now to share some of their wares so you can be inspired by them too?

Meghan has been spending days at her desk with a view of the glorious dressmaking of Daisy Elsom of Elsom Clothing. All of Daisy’s garments are small batch and made to order. If you’re a fan of Merchant & Mills or Toast, Daisy’s clothing will have a familiar vibe, as she spent some formative years working with them. Meghan is especially taken with Daisy’s dreamy drawstring dresses and tops.

Fellow lover of the printed page Alice Pomfret is an art director and founder of A Design Practice. She works with cultural institutions, publishing houses, and makers on their publications and exhibitions - just perusing her work is almost enough to tempt us back into print… (!!).

Next to Lydia’s workspace is Deva of Phaedra Clothing, which you might recognise from several Pom Pom photoshoots of years past, including the very beautiful Knits About Winter from 2018 and Issue 38 of our magazine.

A recent addition to our shared space is writer Anna Goldreich, whose debut novel just came out. The Leveret is a story about grief, queer parenthood, and love, set in rural England. Anna brings nature into her characters’ lives as a refuge and balm, but the unpredictability of wild things leads to questions about our relationship to creatures that do not want to be tamed. It’s heartbreaking and human and we wholly recommend it. You can also read The Guardian’s glowing review of her book here. As it happens Anna is also a maker who sews, knits, and recently started beading.

That’s it for our June roundup! We hope you’ve enjoyed meeting the makers who are infusing everyday life here at Pom Pom with creativity and inspiration. Paid subscribers, read on for our full, paid-members-only report from the Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Tate Modern…