Threaded bliss
Her love of beading has seen Sylvia Fairhurst pass on her knowledge as far a field as Japan. Lorraine Behrens meets her at her East Yorkshire home. Pictures by Tony Johnson.
WHEN Sylvia Fairhurst discovered a beaded choker at a craft show in the early 1990s, she was hooked. “I was at a craft show at the NEC and I saw the choker. I thought it was incredible and decided I couldn’t live without it. When I got home I thought, I can do that – and put a beading loom on my birthday list and that was that.”
Sylvia, who was born in Inverness and brought up in York, moved to Milton Keynes and spent more than 20 years there before relocating three years ago to Holmpton, East Yorkshire, where she has continued with her love of beading and runs regular classes for others wanting to learn the techniques.
“I have always been a crafter. I learnt to sew at school and made my own clothes as a teenager. My mother taught me to knit and my granny taught me to crochet, so my hands were never idle.”
At a craft fair she met Irene Barnes, who used to work for the Manor House museum in Bury St Edmunds. Irene was demonstrating tambour beading, which involves applying beads to a fabric with a needle that resembles a fine crochet hook. “I was invited to have a go and discovered that I was a ‘natural’, so Irene said. My friends had to leave me there and went around the craft show without me, only coming back for me when it was time to go home.
“I spent many a weekend at Manor House, learning different skills from Irene, and it was through her that I heard about other beaders who were talking about starting a guild and in 1999 the Beadworkers’ Guild was born.” The guild is a registered charity dedicated to supporting and promoting the art of bead weaving and is open to bead workers and bead artists everywhere.
Sylvia has been a trustee of the guild since December 2001. She started to teach beadwork in 2000 and in 2004 completed a City & Guild teaching diploma to qualify to teach in adult education. She has been designing and teaching ever since.
“I love the process of showing others how it’s done and encouraging them to make their own design choices. Like most things, a little dexterity is required but if you can thread a needle, you can bead.”
There are six or seven basic stitches that Sylvia encourages her students to learn. New techniques have been developed in recent years and Sylvia says it is fun to play with them and experiment in their versatility.
Sylvia has taught all over the UK and has also done two tours of Japan. “The first tour was in August 2004. It was all very exciting but once I was in the air, I had a mild panic, thinking what if there is no one to meet me at the airport? My flight took off from London Heathrow at 8.15pm bound for Japan, and arrived in Tokyo at 3.30pm. I was then taken on a twohour bus ride to Haneda airport, where I had another flight to Akita and was then transported to the hotel, arriving at 10pm Sunday, with a migraine. I was shattered and had teaching on Monday morning to look forward to!”
Sylvia taught in Akita, Tokyo, Nagoya and Kyoto and a particular highlight was a visit to the Miyuki factory, which makes beads for the global market.
“I was absolutely speechless and honoured when I learned that not only were we – my guide and myself – to be collected at the station, but it was the factory owner, Mr Katsuoka, who was coming to meet us. After a short drive to the office, we were given tea and Mr
‘My bead stash is everywhere. I keep my most used colours and sizes in my home in a variety of storage boxes and the “overload” is kept in the garage.’
Katsuoka presented me with some new bead samples and a book. Then he escorted us on a factory tour, which meant a short drive to the new factory which employs only 35 people. With only 40 in the old factory/HQ office building, this didn’t seem like many people for such a global output.
“Unfortunately our visit was cut short due to the threat of a tornado impeding our return journey, by bullet train, to Kyoto. However, the whole experience was magical.”
In 2020, Sylvia organised a global project for completing all 92 Johnson solids. Johnson solids are three-dimensional shapes assembled from triangles, squares, pentagons, hexagons, octagons and decagons. Beaders often work with related shapes, the Platonic solids, and sometimes also the Archimedean solids, but expanding into the Johnson solids offered a new challenge.
“I first took part in a USA project and loved it so much I decided to run it here in the UK with the permission of the original project manager,” adds Sylvia. “I put a call out for volunteers to pick a shape and make it, and so many people volunteered that the project was extended to include folk from overseas and to include the 13 Archimedean solids and the five Platonic solids. I’m still looking for a lovely venue to exhibit them.”
As part of her role with the Beadworkers’ Guild, Sylvia organises and attends a number of craft shows and bead fairs throughout the UK. The largest is the Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate which takes place every November, where Sylvia takes a large display of members’ work and also demonstrates beading and runs workshops.
“My bead stash is everywhere. I keep my most used colours and several sizes in my home in a variety of storage boxes and the ‘overload’ is kept in the garage. I work mostly from our dining room but most of my new designing is done when I’m on holiday, wherever that may be.”
Despite being an accomplished bead worker, Sylvia still makes mistakes. “My most embarrassing moment was as a guest designer on live TV, for the Jewellery Maker channel, when I was demonstrating and I inadvertently cut the wrong thread! So I had to explain it was a case of do what I say and not what I do.”
Sylvia currently has her work on display for sale at Seaside Arts Space in Withernsea, and some of her work will be touring with the Beadworkers’ Guild at craft shows and bead fairs throughout 2024.