Artist-maker, Helen Pailing, uses haptic knowledge to recraft waste materials into captivating sculptures, assemblages and site-specific interventions.

Helen reconfigures remnants from the process of making; transforming glass from lampworking and utilitarian materials into new works, charged with energy and intrigue. In response to the materials, she applies craft techniques, connecting matter through stitching, wrapping and weaving. Her work exists in a state of tension, sitting between the handmade and the unmade, as though it could unravel at any moment.

Re-using materials destined for landfill is Helen’s own quiet activism - a way to to serve as a catalyst for changing attitudes towards waste materials and celebrate the value within all matter. Her reconfiguration of materials is often a direct response to the location, forming an intuitive connection between maker and matter and creating exciting possibilities for compelling commissions.

In 2019 Helen completed an AHRC funded, practice-based PhD from UoS (based at National Glass Centre) entitled ‘Recrafting Waste Using a Stitch-Based Methodology: A Collaboration Between Makers and Matter’. She has work in private and public collections including The V&A and National Glass Centre.