The Fiber Craft Studio is located in Orchard House, a lovely white brick building on the campus of Threefold Educational Center. Its walled-in back garden and terrace serves as an outdoor work and teaching space.

Faculty, Co-Workers, Friends and Volunteers

Renate Hiller, Co-Director of the Fiber Craft Studio, co-founded the Sunbridge College Applied Arts Program in 1996, and at present co-directs the fifth cycle of the Applied Arts Program. Renate is indebted to the late Margarethe Frohlich, a celebrated pioneer in teaching handwork in North American Waldorf schools, for her guidance and years of mentoring.

Photo: Dyana Van Campen

Mikae Toma, Co-Director of the Fiber Craft Studio, was a kindergarten teacher in Japan and a student of Waldorf education before joining the Craft Studio as a co-worker. She is a graduate and faculty member of the Applied Arts Program.

Chris Marlow teaches handwork at Green Meadow Waldorf School, Chestnut Ridge, NY. She is a graduate of the Applied Arts Program and co-directs the fifth cycle of the Applied Arts Program.

The ongoing work at the Fiber Craft Studio is supported by many contributions from generous friends and volunteers.

Activities at the Studio

Applied Arts Program: A Professional Development Program for Handwork Teachers

This part-time program supports the spiritual and practical growth of Waldorf handwork teachers or individuals aspiring to become teachers.The program explores the art, philosophy, practice and pedagogy of teaching handwork. It is also a forum for sharing insights and experiences arising in the classroom. Participants meet two weeks in the summer and one week in the winter for four years. Preparatory reading and independent research complement the coursework. A new cycle begins every two years. The next cycle will begin in the summer of 2009; click here for more information.

Courses and Workshops

We offer several courses and workshops each year in plant-dyeing and felting. Each workshop offers the opportunity to rediscover the wonders of natural materials, to learn new skills, and to immerse oneself in an artistic, transformative process. The emphasis is on the process of creation and on working with others. Click here for a listing of our current offerings.

Sales

We sell unique, one-of-a-kind hand-felted accessories, fiber craft kits for knitting, crocheting and felting, and our plant-dyed materials at our studio at Orchard House as well as at other locations and fiber events.

Study, Practice and Research

In our collaborative working as fiber artisans we are inspired by a spirit-imbued image of the human being, nature and the cosmos. Whether we take in the wonders embodied in a lock of wool fleece or in a silkworm cocoon, or whether we observe a plant as it metamorphoses through the seasons, we cannot but be filled with awe and gratitude for nature’s gifts. As we become engaged not only with our eyes and our mind, but also with our hands and our heart, nature begins to reveal her secrets – we may sense and feel the creative spirit active in it. As fiber artisans, it is our task and our privilege to continue the work of nature – working with her materials, inspired by her gestures of color and form, to create objects for daily use that are both functional and beautiful. Balancing usefulness and beauty, so that perfect harmony is achieved, is the goal we set ourselves again and again. As we transform nature’s gifts, we practice approaching all realms of life with artistic sensibility.

We practice and research the art and craft of dyeing with plants to bring harmonious, truly beautiful colors to the fibers and yarns we use. We grow many of the plants in our dye-garden in the biodynamic gardens of the Pfeiffer Center, or we harvest them in the surrounding countryside. We also use some of the plant materials grown in tropical regions. By dyeing with plant colors, we are using renewable resources and enlivening processes to bring healing to the senses and the soul.

Through hand-spinning, knitting, crocheting, felting and sewing - using beautiful, mostly plant-dyed materials - we seek to enliven the art of clothing. Can clothing become a true art again that serves the human being in body, soul and spirit? This is a question we live with, as we create garments inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s indications for a renewal of the art of clothing.