PROFILE: SUE MATON
Designer and owner of The Mercerie, Sue Maton shares her philosophy that crochet is a comfort, teaching tool and an important way to connect with others
As with many craft entrepreneurs, when social distancing measures started several weeks ago, it didn’t take Sue Maton too long to find new ways of keeping her crochet ventures going. “Initially, the prospect of lockdown filled me with despair as I make my living teaching classes and helping people to be sociable and support their high street retailers,” she recalls.
“However, most self-employed creatives are pretty resourceful and responsive to changing environments. I’ve migrated most of my courses online now and I’m using a combination of video tutorials and live Q & A sessions on Zoom. It’s been a steep learning curve for me, and very time consuming, but it’s also pointing me in a new direction.”
Sue’s classes are a major part of The Mercerie’s mission. “When I started The Mercerie in 2012 I had a vague idea that I’d be an online yarn retailer, and thought it would be good to design some products to help sell the wool,” she says. “The reality was that I didn’t sell much yarn; I couldn’t compete with other retailers and my heart wasn’t in selling, it was in designing. So in 2016 I decided to concentrate on designing products that I could genuinely put my heart into. Also, at this time, I began to grow the crochet classes and found that I could successfully combine the two things I love; designing and teaching. This now forms the core of what The Mercerie is all about; good design and bringing people together.”
NEW VOCATION
Teaching is very much in Sue’s DNA; she trained as a knitwear designer in the 1980s at
De Montfort University then began teaching at her local college. “Teaching became my vocation for the next 20 years! I enjoyed learning with the students as the subjects I taught included Art and Design, Art History, Textile Design, Fashion and even Graphic Design. I learnt that my interests were broad and I enjoyed the fast pace of project turnover, and after several years stopped thinking of myself as a knitwear designer.”
This passion for teaching means Sue’s classes always inspire her. “That moment when you can almost hear the penny drop as someone finally ‘gets it’ with just 15 minutes left of the lesson is a joy! Sometimes people I’ve taught to crochet will share pictures of their work with me on social media and it’s great to see the pleasure their new craft skills brings them.”
Sue runs a Working with Colour Harmonies class, a hands-on painting day designed to help people work with colours and gain colour confidence. And recently she’s been hosting crochet retreats in rural Norfolk, with plans to run them again in the near future. “My favourite classes are the six month blanket courses that I run; Homage to the (Granny) Square and Wallflowers,” she enthuses. “These courses are as much about colour as they are about crochet and it’s the most amazing thing to see your own design reflected back at you in multiple different colourways. I can see the pride that everyone takes in their creation and the gradual realisation that they have a creative soul.”
“The feedback I get most from my students is ‘I never imagined I could make something as beautiful as this’ often followed by ‘Even my husband is impressed!’ I still really value that about crochet – it’s easily accessible to anyone. I love the simple economy of one basic tool, and its infinite potential.”
ONLINE OPPORTUNITY
The popularity of the Wallflowers course has sparked an idea for a new project. “Wallflowers grew as a ‘Mystery Blanket’ project that I initially ran for a small group of people at Norfolk Yarn, in Norwich,” she explains. “I knew it was going to be a lovely blanket but really I had no idea how much impact the finished product would make. It’s currently only available as a ‘real life’ course but I was getting lots of requests to make the pattern available, or to run it as an online course.”
“I’d been thinking for some time about offering something to the online community who I think were beginning to feel a bit left out of the party, so when social isolation was introduced I knew immediately that this was my cue to develop an online project. There wasn’t time to design and make a finished project to present to the online community so I just decided to announce that I was designing something new, called Crojo Retro, and if anyone wanted to join in they could.“
Crojo Retro is still in its infancy but already proving a success. “It’s a huge leap of faith and, if I’m honest, very scary, to be working on a mystery blanket live on social media, but so far the response has been really positive and
I’m enjoying the challenge,” confesses Sue. “The design is based on stylised 1960s and 70s surface pattern, a bit Orla Kiely, or Mary Quant, and it’s intended to be a little light hearted oasis in these dark times.”
DESIGNS TO TREASURE
When Sue’s not busy teaching she finds time to work on her own designs, and has a strong ethos she likes to stick to. “I made a conscious decision a couple of years ago that I would only design and make products that I genuinely believe deserve a place in the world, and that means I don’t design many things – but I do like to take my time and create products that can be treasured and valued as heirloom pieces.”
“Colour and surface pattern really motivate her: “The reason my recent projects have all been blankets is because a simple rectangular format is the perfect shape for exploring pattern and repetition.” A current favourite yarn, Rowan Felted Tweed, has been used for all three of Sue’s recent blanket designs. “I love the quality of the colours in the range, they have depth of colour that is both subtle and intense; the range of colours is huge and the whole collection just works beautifully.” When it comes to techniques Sue has a particular love for working with multiple motifs that are pieced together. “I think there are a couple of reasons for this,” she muses. “Firstly, it makes the work much more portable, but also because my work tends to grow and develop organically it’s easier to manage if it’s made up of lots of small pieces.”
Despite having to juggle her own designing with online classes and projects right now, Sue still has plenty more ventures to look forward to, as her quest to connect with others through crochet continues. “I’ll be resuming my [offline] crochet classes and working with some new local yarn shops later this year, but I’m also excited about the prospect of offering courses online to a much wider audience.”
Written by Lucy Evans
“I love the simple economy of one basic tool, and its infinite potential”