About

Born in Northern Ireland, I am a British fine artist specialising in crochet sculpture. I studied Fine Art Foundation and BA at De Montfort University Leicester. Here I combined traditional crochet skills and realism to create realistic life-size animal sculpture. By 2008 I had found a signature style and coined the name Crochetdermy to describe my crochet sculpture.

Having ADHD means that I have the ability to hyperfocus, fundamental when it comes to my work. Pieces can take many months to create, sometimes, as with The Lionheart Project, years.

Career highlights include creating a ‘Very Very Unofficial Portrait’ of Prince Harry for Guardian Weekend magazine, Bojo, a sculpture of Boris Johnson as life-size albino gorilla for Chelsea Flower Show, collaborating with the British Council on their ‘Great’ campaign, travelling the world showing and talking about Crochetdermy®, and exhibiting at many prestigious galleries/museums including The V&A, Natural History Museum and Saatchi Gallery.

Public Art

Large scale public art includes inner city installation  33 Cank Street, and the largest by far, The Lionheart Project. Created over two years, The Lionheart Project was the biggest single handed crochet sculpture in the world and reached an audience of over one million people. Part of the Cultural Olympiad and created to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic Games, The Lionheart Project consisted of three 25ft hand crocheted lions housed in a bespoke mobile glass case which toured the country throughout 2012.

For more information / lionheartproject.com

My work occasionally leads me in unexpected directions. In 2020 I had the opportunity to create a piece that would aid women in the most difficult of moments. I was contacted by a specialist in forensic medicine enquiring if I could create a realistic yet non confrontational model of the female anatomy, the prop to aid expert witness court testimony during sexual assault cases.

I was determined to help and after a lot of experimenting managed to create an appropriate workable model. The prop was well received and it’s success led to a project creating multiples for the New South Wales Ministry of Health.

“The models have arrived, and three of our seniormedical staff have contacted me to say the quality and the value of the models as training resources are amazing. I wanted to pass on their thanks and appreciation.”

Alison Horsley
Manager, Sexual Assault and Medical and Forensic Team / Prevention and Response to Violence, Abuse and Neglect / Government Relations Branch