Robin Bergman

"By creating my own fabric, I can make more personal choices in clothing design. The process, in turn, is enriched by the creation of a two-dimensional pattern that will be beautifully transformed into a three-dimensional object when worn. By designing textiles, I can be innovative and personal while I carry on an ancient and life-affirming tradition. "

The artist hand looms limited-edition and one-of-a-kind knitted art to wear from luxury yarns and natural fibers. Her influences include ethnographic and antique textiles and garments. Knitted garments uniquely transcend conventional boundaries. Simultaneously objects of art and utility, they provide sophisticated visual and tactile pleasure while offering simple warmth and comfort, both traditional and modern.

Loom knitting is a manual process using a knitting machine. Fabric, patterning, and shaped garment pieces are created simultaneously. Most pieces have between twenty and thirty yarn colors—in effect, painting with yarn. Emphasis is on treating the knit surface more like a canvas. Juxtaposition of color, texture, scale, and contrasting patterns achieves an integration of the shape and the surface.

Robin Bergman graduated with an MFA in painting from MICA in Baltimore. While Bergman was there, painter Grace Hartigan saw that her true love was fiber and encouraged her to bring textiles into the studio. This propelled Bergman to learn as much as she could about all aspects of fiber and led her to work as a textile conservator at the Gardner Museum in Boston. She left to start her own studio, Robin Originals.