Kaffe 2014 – The Colourful World Of Kaffe Fassett

World-renowned knitwear and textile designer Kaffe Fassett returns to the American Museum in Britain in 2014 to celebrate his fifty years working as an artist and colourist. Born in San Francisco in 1937 and raised in the creative community of Big Sur, California, Kaffe has a long association with the American Museum, first exhibiting there in 1994. When he came to live in Britain in the early 1960s, Kaffe stayed in Bath and was much inspired by the Museum’s diverse collections – especially its many antique quilts. Kaffe was fascinated not only with the block patterns created in these textile masterworks but also by their audacious use of juxtaposed colours and printed fabrics.

The Colourful World of Kaffe Fassett showcases how Kaffe lives by his maxim to find colour in a grey world. Designed by celebrated theatrical designer Johan Engels, the exhibition promises to be as colourful as the dazzling pieces on display. Over one hundred sumptuous works of textile art – a kaleidoscope of knitwear, needlepoint, beading, and quilts – will be on display in the dramatic exhibition alongside vibrant mosaics and still life paintings by the Fassett. Nearly all the objects on view are from Kaffe’s personal collection – the much-loved pieces that surround him as he creates. The cornucopia of works on view thus offers a glimpse of the private man behind the public façade.

The exhibition features works spanning Kaffe’s creative life, including drawings he made as a boy in California. These monochrome pictures are a far cry from the explosions of colour that made Kaffe a household name from the 1970s as one of the great practitioners of contemporary craft. Visitors to the exhibition will discover zones, each showcasing a variety of materials by colour, from knitted shawls to gorgeous coats inspired by Shakespearean heroines, and cushions decorated with his detailed needlepoint designs.