Cecelia Campochiaro

knitwear designer Author Teacher United States
Cecelia Campochiaro lives in Silicon Valley, where for many years, she developed specialized microscopes used in computer chip manufacturing. Textiles, photography and the arts have been a lifelong passion running in parallel with her technical life. In high school and college even though her main studies were in the sciences, she studied drawing, printmaking, ceramics, and photography. Today she is fully dedicated to the fibre world and to exploring new ways to make amazing knit fabrics.

Cecelia published her first book Sequence Knitting in 2015. Not only is this book aesthetically very beautiful, to many it was also a revelation, how simple and effective this interesting new design approach can be.

We are impatiently waiting for Cecelia's new book Making Marls, being released in March 2020. In the years after Sequence Knitting, she developed new knitting ideas and has taken them a step further. Sequence Knitting is about texture, and her new book, Making Marls, about colour. Making marls, the act of working multiple strands together as one, is an old technique, but has rarely been written about as an important technique in handknitting and never this exhaustively.
7 sense-ible questions for Cecelia
1) What are your favourite views, sights or reads such as books, movies or others?
There are many books, movies, artworks that I have loved. Two recent books that I have really enjoyed are Pachinko by Min Jin Lee and A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel by Amor Towles. A great joy is visiting an art museum when it is quiet and I can see the works on my own timing. A true guilty pleasure.

2) What are your favourite feels/things to touch?
I like the feel of most natural fibers. Of course, the soft luxury fibers are my favorites, but I also like to touch linen or nubby silk. Fine linen cloth worn after many washings is so comfortable. Smooth, well-made tools from metal or wood are important.

3) What puts your life in balance?
I'm not sure it is balanced, as creativity often comes with obsession. But I like to walk, cook, visit the natural wonders in California, and go to the museums in San Francisco to escape my computer.

4) Favourite odours/smells/perfumes?
Fresh flowers…freesia, magnolia, rose, gardenia...

5) Favourite tastes/flavours/food?
My downfall is food and every cuisine has its delights: strongly flavoured Asian foods from Korea, India, and China; mild Asian foods from Japan; Italian or Mexican food; a great fresh salad; and almost any dessert.

6) Favourite sounds such as music or others?
I usually choose silence for my work, but like all kinds of music.

7) Favourite quote
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." — Steve Jobs

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