Common Threads Press
Founded by Laura Moseley in 2019, Common Threads Press is a small press that specialises in radical histories of crafts and making.
Community Projects
As part of Common Threads Press, I collaborate with community groups, arts organisations and charities to produce special projects, events or publications on a freelance basis.
Stitching Our Stories
Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library and Norfolk Heritage Centre
Stitching Our Stories was an Arts Council-funded project by Norfolk Libraries and artist Connie Flynn to make a protest banner demanding an end to violence against women. I produced a zine to accompany the banner, in which I documented the making of the banner and explored the history of women’s protest textiles.
Women Artists of the Norwich School
Norwich Castle, Norfolk Heritage Centre and Kick the Dust
Women Artists of the Norwich School was a project by Common Threads Press, Norfolk Heritage Centre, Kick the Dust and Norwich Castle to create an accessible and informative resource on the women painters who were part of the Norwich School, the first regional movement established in Britain in the early 19th century. I ran workshops with the young people who created artworks inspired by these histories, before designing and writing the final booklet that is now for sale in Norwich Castle.
Norfolk Trans Joy Community Quilt Zine
I led on the concept and production of this zine with artists Alice Bigsby-Bye, Beau Brannick and Poppy Marriott to tell the story of the Norfolk Trans Joy Community Quilt. In an effort to fight the tendency for activist and protest textiles to be lost in broader art histories, this zine features essays, interviews and photographs from Daniel Fountain, Rowan Frewin, Alice Bigsby-Bye and Beau Brannick that document the inspiration, processes and stories that went into the Norfolk Trans Joy Community Quilt. Proceeds from each sale go to Norwich Trans Pride.
Woven Histories of Welsh Wool and Slavery
Cardiff University and Coleg Menai
I was commissioned by Cardiff University to produce the publication Woven Histories of Welsh Wool and Slavery, a collection of essays, interviews and artworks which call attention to the colonial history of the Welsh woollen industry. This free e-book aims to improve public knowledge of the ways local histories of woollen production in Wales are implicated in broader global histories of Atlantic slavery and empire. Funded by HEFCW Research Wales Innovation Funding, I coordinated the creative direction, the design, the marketing and the distribution of this publication.
Dr Charlotte Hammond, Cardiff University
Commissioned Woven Histories of Welsh Wool and Slavery, published by Common Threads Press
“Common Threads proved to be a passionately inclusive press and provided meticulous attention to detail throughout the whole publishing process. I was impressed by their immediate commitment to a challengingly exhilarating project and their ability to understand our vision for what the book could be. Laura and team were excellent at maintaining regular contact throughout the whole process and responded to any queries or issues with thoughtful care and consideration.”
Common Threads Press Publications
Common Threads Press publications are written collaboratively with early-career researchers, students and academics from all around the world, who share a love and interest in craft histories. I coordinate each stage of the process, from concept to distribution. This consists of concept development with authors, editorial oversight, briefing designers and illustrators, liaising with printers, leading marketing stategies and managing a small team of volunteers.
STOCKISTS
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Royal Academy of Arts
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Institute of Contemporary Arts London
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Tatter Blue Library
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Tate Modern
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Camden Arts Centre
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South London Gallery
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People's History Museum
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Fruitmarket Gallery
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Whitworth Art Gallery
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Tate St Ives
• Royal Academy of Arts • Institute of Contemporary Arts London • Tatter Blue Library • Tate Modern • Camden Arts Centre • South London Gallery • People's History Museum • Fruitmarket Gallery • Whitworth Art Gallery • Tate St Ives
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"I am such a huge fan of Common Threads Press, who offer a vibrant and vital platform to craft stories that have often been neglected from wider histories. Beautifully produced and exacting in research, these publications show that as with everything, the history of craft is deeply political."
Amber Butchart, curator, writer and history consultant for BBC One's Great British Sewing Bee.
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"In 'Many Hands Make a Quilt' Jess Bailey's engaging writing draws the reader in for a beautifully illustrated tour of the relationship between quilting and activism. 'Diasporic Threads' platforms a stunning selection of works by contemporary Black women textile artists and is rich in critical insight and historical context."
Ferren Gipson, author of Women's Work: From Feminine Arts to Feminist Arts and The Ultimate Art Museum.
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"Common Threads Press publications are brilliant: accessible, informative, powerful. They bring to the fore the universal human stories told by textiles and their making, underscoring the intimate and political power of fabric."
Rachel Dedman, Jameel Curator of Contemporary Art from the Middle East at the V&A, curator of 'Material Power: Palestinian Embroidery'.
FUNDRAISING
An important part of Common Threads Press for me is sharing our resources and platform to help charities working to help the communities whose histories we help to uplift. See below for our fundraising totals since 2020.