Laura Lees studied tapestry at Duncan of Jordanstone in Dundee and has made embroidery a central tenet of her varied artistic, commercial and collaborative practice. She’s designed and crafted limited edition one-off pieces for fashion collections with Sibling, Luella and Giles, as well as running her own label. She has made guitar straps for The Strokes and has worked with clients as varied as Courtney Love to WWF star wrestler ‘The Rock’.

Lees continues to work in textiles with a new focus of her first love, interiors and bespoke furniture. A collaboration with furniture designer Bethan Laura Wood brought Lees’ vivid, colourful embroidery to the Milan Salone in 2014. Since then she has worked with bespoke furniture creators Uncommon Projects as well as developing her own style of bright, modernist crazy-paving patchwork to cover vintage stools, daybeds and sofas. The embroidered images that blend urban iconography with more architectural elements have been recontextualised into bigger, bolder statement works such as furniture, huge wall hangings, embroidered rooms and, harking back to original training, exceptionally detailed tapestries.

What value does craft have in everyday life?

It really is everything, in terms of how I perceive every object I interact with. 

I love the mark of the hand that made it, the feel of material (apart from unglazed pottery which really makes me shudder), the imperfections, the understanding of how something is made. Even stuff that I don’t like, I still appreciate the work that goes into its construction.

What does Scottishness mean to you?

Stunning landscape. Extraordinary light and beautiful water, both for drinking and swimming. Brilliant, exfoliating beaches. Ludicrous weather. Incredible natural resources. Mountains that make you want to weep. A hive of creativity. Exceptionally good surreal, witty-as-fuck humour.