ABOUT ILLOOMINATA

The global cloths that I love most, the ones that knock the breath out of me with the size of their soul and the stunning originality of their making; these cloths are more than craft. More than beautiful. They are stories being told.

I hunt for these splendid, storied textiles around the world, buying and selling vintage pieces, elaborately created for the ceremonies of life. And from inspired women’s cooperatives, I sell fresh hand-loomed, naturally dyed garments and cloths, each rooted in a local textile tradition, yet energized with new eyes. Shop online in Boutique.

In my Charleston, South Carolina, studio, I have taken up weaving, dyeing, and stitching in order to put down the textures and hues of my own life. See these offerings in Studio.

I write reflections on what I find luminous – in life and in cloth – which I publish here. Readers may subscribe to receive weekly illoominations.

For many years a minister, I now give my time to this other ancient language of the soul, one authored by women of the cloth. In the alchemy of cooking up red, in the tapestry of truth-telling, in the simple art of spinning cotton, I am finding a kind of collective memory revealed. A language of feeling, grace, power. Really, a sacred text that women have unwittingly composed.