Emily Jo Gibbs
Textile Artist
Emily Jo Gibbs is a British Artist who has established an international reputation for her delicate textiles. Predominantly working with silk organza layered onto linen Emily creates hand-stitched Portraits and Still Lifes with a graphic quality, observing the quiet beauty of the overlooked.
Often making work depicting other makers, stitching in a meticulous way using tiny stab stitches she celebrates people who make things. She describes her investment of time in making the work as a quiet, thoughtful act of care and value.
Emily works to commission, for exhibitions and projects. She is a member of the 62 Group of Textile Artists, Contemporary Applied Arts and the Artworkers Guild.
Between 1993 and 2006 Emily made luxury handbags. Works from this period are in The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Crafts Council Collection and The Museum of Fine Art, Houston
“I’m interested in the idea that by taking the time to slowly describe someone in stitch, you convey your admiration. Celebrating people who make things by the investment of time in making the work is a quiet, thoughtful act of care and value. ”
Selected work
Procession of Maker, 2025
Made whilst Artist in Residence, the 6m-long work celebrates the Makers of Trinity Buoy Wharf, in London’s Docklands. Delicately stitched in Emily’s signature style, the appliqué features many people working at the Wharf including the SS Robin restoration crew, English National Opera prop makers, and apprentice engineers on Thames Clippers. Offering a unique glimpse into the area's creative community. In places lively tacking stitches remain speaking to the many layers of hidden work Craftspeople undertake.
