Caroline Achaintre: studio spotlight

'I use wool because it’s such a familiar, warm material – but I like to work with it in unusual, uncanny ways.' Caroline Achaintre, artist and guest curator behind the Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition Material Worlds: Contemporary Artists and Textiles invites us into her London studio to share how she brings sketches to life through tufted wool, explores duality in ceramics, and balances play and unease in her practice. In this behind-the-scenes video, she shares how her distinctive tufted wool pieces begin as spontaneous sketches, explains the tools – including the all-important tufting gun – that help her work at scale, and reflects on the tension between playfulness and unease that runs through her practice. Born in France and raised in Germany, Achaintre works across textiles, ceramics and works on paper, drawing on influences from Animism, Expressionism, theatrical costume and the handmade. See her vision come to life in Material Worlds: Contemporary Artists and Textiles, showing in Nottingham (17 May – 31 Aug 2025), Cheltenham (Sep 2025 – Jan 2026) and Attenborough Centre (January - May 2026) . Subscribe for the latest videos: https://southbankc.re/youtube TikTok ➳   / southbank.centre   Instagram ➳   / southbankcentre   Facebook ➳   / southbankcentre   #SouthbankCentre