My Story
I am Jaine Mahon, a hand-dyer and weaver with my craft encoded in my DNA.
A maker and daring colourist who defies expectation and convention: quietly rebellious, I use traditional weaving structures and then disguise and confound it with audacious, shimmering colour.
My work, the result of years of dedicated study and practice stretches back to my grandmothers and beyond. Hundreds of years beyond to my Huguenot ancestors, who wove silk velvet in their workshops in the East End of London.
With the ancestral making thread broken, my life has been a decades-long quest to reclaim my roots, to sit where my ancestors sat, to weave with the same material.
My quest complete, I weave and dye on the Isle of Skye. I create pieces of wearable art: exquisitely crafted silk scarves, iridescent and richly pigmented, with a beautiful drape and the softest of handle.
"A quiet rebel, I enjoy learning rules and then working out how to break them!"
A quiet rebel, I enjoy learning rules and then working out how to break them! I use traditional weaving grid structures, but with ingenuity and audacious and complex dyeing, disguise and confound them with sumptuous hues and iridescent patterns. Distinctly different from those of my peers, my creations are precious pieces of wearable art, and as each is individually hand-dyed before weaving, unique.
I am directly related to Huguenots who wove silk velvet in London’s East End in the 18th Century, and doubtless for many generations prior.
My making life started early, my grandmothers teaching me to knit and sew before I was old enough for school. Like them, I was always drawn to textiles. The link to textiles extends further however, I am directly related to Huguenots who wove silk velvet in London’s East End in the 18th Century, and doubtless for many generations prior.
But weaving was not obviously my destiny. I pursued a grey “sensible career” in Computing and Analysis for fifteen years. It was while doing this that I had a chance encounter with a lady spinning wool at a craft centre. Something stirred within me. Booking my first lesson, I endured a 40-mile round trip on my bicycle to attend. Even the rain didn’t deter me!
The burgeoning weaver increasingly needed to experience more, to span the knowledge gap that existed between me and my ancestors. I wanted to spin proficiently, to play with lovely fibre and more importantly to learn from people who knew how to spin. It was at this point that I decided to tap into centuries-old making DNA, by joining the Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. From people whose knowledge and skills were handed down from their grandmothers, I learnt to spin, to dye with increasing vividness, to weave. Like the varicoloured warp and weft in my scarves, the warp of my familial link to this ancient craft was intertwined with the weft of the knowledge I was gaining. I later took specialist weaving courses in my quest for knowledge and excellence.
All the while my work in computers continued, proving an unexpected boon for a budding weaver. Logic and programming skills transferred seamlessly to the technical side of weaving. It transpires the loom was the precursor of the computer! Everything, even my monochrome job, was leading me ineluctably in one direction, home.
I explored natural fibres, finally falling in love with silk for its texture and its unrivalled ability to take dye, producing richly pigmented, shimmering colours with a beautiful drape and soft handle.
I explored natural fibres, finally falling in love with silk for its texture and its unrivalled ability to take dye, producing richly pigmented, shimmering colours with a beautiful drape and soft handle. In a twist of fate, the same fibre my ancestors had used all those centuries ago…
Feeling hemmed in by work and craving a change in my lifestyle, the concluding step in my quest to be a full-time maker finally unfolded. I moved to the Isle of Skye. Here I was able to set up my own handweaving and dyeing studio in an inspirational location. Freedom at last.
I have reached my goal, a destination I had been seemingly working towards all my life … I am a weaver. I make beautiful, vibrant textiles on a traditional handloom. Having absorbed the ancient art of weaving, it seems logical to me now to pass it on, and I do so by sharing my skills and knowledge to inspire the next generation. The DNA of my craft, through my experience, weaving itself into the fabric of the future.
Special thanks to Rosie at Love Skye Photography for her stunning studio and location photography, Dan at Making Goode for his mentoring and copywriting and Martyn Allen for his brand work and web design.
