Pamela Layzell

Pamela began making lace in 1985. Keen to develop her own designs, she embarked on the City and Guilds course, completing Part 1 in 1998, and Part 2 in 2002, and received a medal of excellence for both parts. She joined 98 Lace in 2014 and enjoys experimenting with various materials. She has often worked with coarse threads on a large scale, including a phase of working with ‘thread’ made of plastic bags cut into strips, but has recently begun working on smaller pieces.

She enjoys pushing the boundaries of lacemaking, trying to use the traditional techniques in non-traditional ways, working in both bobbin and needle lace. Much of Pamela’s work uses simple lacemaking techniques, and relies on colour, scale and repetition to create interesting designs. With a mathematical background, she has used mathematical shapes and solids in her work, which led to several 3-dimensional pieces. She enjoyed the challenge of how to construct a robust framework to give the 3-D form, a challenge which becomes even more complicated when trying to work to a large scale.

More recently, she has enjoyed creating and working bobbin lace with non-standard curved grids, which appeal to her mathematical side. She is also trying to incorporate more colour into her work having worked in neutral tones for several years.

As lace is defined by its holes, Pamela believes that it should hang away from a wall or background so that it can be seen through. This also means that the work will produce interesting shadows, which she thinks enhances her work.