Caro Pattle
Artist
Bulleke-bek — Brunswick, VIC
‘My uncle was an artist, my grandmother a weaver and my great grandmother made rugs’.
Born in Aotearoa (New Zealand), Caro grew up in a family of creatives. She recalls sleeping under her grandmother’s loom, looking up at the strings in awe.
These early influences followed the artist through a fine art degree, then later a bachelor of textiles at RMIT, which she graduated from just before the pandemic.
Caro works from a small granny flat at the back of her Brunswick home. Overlooking a sunny courtyard, the studio is brimming in charming bric-a-brac. An old weaving loom belonging to Caro’s grandmother sits by the entrance. Large open shelves are lined with old art magazines, woven prototypes and scribbled notes. Vintage posters are stacked to one side. And a golden trophy sits triumphantly above her desk, which Caro awarded to herself for persevering through lockdowns.
In what can only be described as spectacular eye-candy, the real feature of the studio is, of course, Caro’s work.
Vibrant ribbons of plush velvet gather in piles around the room, with Cobalt blue (Caro’s signature colour) on heavy rotation. A half-woven frame sits to one side, revealing the inner-workings of Caro’s time-intensive process.
Drawing on traditional coil basketry techniques, Caro uses a paper clip and tweezers to thread the fabric from the bottom up. Then, taking inspiration from ancient Roman artefacts, she finishes each vessel with handles – not as a functional detail, but rather a way to bring more personality to the work. ‘Like eyebrows’, Caro says.
