Lisa Bertoldi

Guest of Emily Gwynn @
124 North Street
Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
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bertoldi@crocker.com
(413) 268-7485

Lisa lives and works in a house from 1790 in Williamsburg Massachusetts. She began handspinning thread and yarn the year she moved into the house with her husband, in 1989. She works with both her spinning wheel and a collection of suspended spindles.

Lisa was the second apprentice at Vavstuga in Shelburne Falls, the lively and deep-rooted studio of Swedish-trained Becky Ashenden. The approach is utilitarian, with an eye to color and design. Because of the unbroken textile tradition in Scandinavia, each pattern and structure has had time, centuries, to be refined. Lisa weaves on a dependable Glimåkra 160 centimeter (63 inch) width loom.

Lisa is always trying to push her handwoven kitchen towels to the limits. How long will they last with hard use? How buttery will the fabric become over time? How thirsty is the fabric in a busy family kitchen? Which threads make the most attractive and durable pattern?

Her favorite kitchen towel is of a warp of Swedish thread, crossed with a weft of her hand spun linen singles.