Come take a seat at Andrew Pierce Scott’s table. In his London studio, the American multi-media artist stitches feasts of seafood and wine and cigarettes. His textile banners salute centuries of art history, from medieval tapestries and 16th-century Dutch still lives to the semi-abstract way Matisse painted goldfish. They’re also autobiographical.
“I started making these in the spring of 2021 while I was finishing my degree at the Royal College of Art,” Andrew tells us. “At the end of every year, graduating fashion students put their extra fabrics up for grabs in a pile in the studio. I took as much as I could carry home with me. As I was sorting through them, a green-and-silver pattern reminded me of fish scales. I decided to sew a quick fish—and then I wanted to put it on a plate on a table. I was supposed to be focusing on my final project but I was daydreaming about having a simple, nice meal out.”
One banner led to many: an alum of the BDDW maker team, Andrew happened to have a sewing machine and to know how to use it. Join us for an appreciatory look.
Photographs courtesy of Andrew Pierce Scott.
Above: Oysters on the half shell are a favorite subject of Andrew’s and he’s a master at capturing textures, shadows, and light. Here, one of his tapestries at Trees, a homey, happening restaurant in Amsterdam. Photograph by Sophia van den Hoek.
Above: An Andrew Pierce Scott tapestry hangs in the Amsterdam kitchen of designer Esther Stam of Studio Modijefsky.
For hanging, Andrew often details his tapestries with small button holes along the top or loops. For a more finished look, this one is framed. Photograph by Studio Modijefsky.
Above: Still Life with Sole. Floris van Dyck’s paintings in London’s National Gallery are a current source of inspiration for Andrew, and his descriptions of them could apply to his own work: “Van Dyck was painting during the Dutch Golden Age, mainly still lives of objects that almost float in space on tables in front of pitch-black backgrounds. I like the way they feel more taken from a dreamscape than from reality. “
Above: Andrew at work making oyster appliqués. Prior to earning a master’s degree in product design from the Royal College of Art, he majored in studio art and classics at Kenyon College in Ohio. Post-college, he worked for BDDW in Philadelphia and adopted the Tyler Hays team’s “make everything” approach to creating.
Above: Some leftover pink satin led to this Still Life with Mortadella. Andrew says he’s “drawn to working with overlooked materials and to elevating the mundane.”
Above: Andrew also shows his work with UK art collective Wondering People, including this Still Life with Oysters and Olive, £1,650. It’s made from fabric offcuts from Drake’s in London and is shown here in the Drake’s dressing area. Photograph by Noah Russell.
See more of Andrew’s work on Instagram @andrewpiercescott.
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