Textile artist turning rugs into masterpieces

Skilled with two tufting guns (which are used in rug making), rolls of yarn and stretched canvas, 26-year-old Racquel Smith is reimagining what fabric can do and is ready to break bigger ground for textile art in Jamaica.

The Westmoreland-born creative is transforming what many would call 'rugs' into vibrant wall pieces that she insists belong in hotels, villas, and homes across the globe.

"I didn't want people to walk on my work, I wanted them to hang it up," she told THE STAR. "When you see it on a wall, it pulls your attention. You want to touch it, you want to feel it, you want to understand it. That's when you realise it's not just fabric, it's art."

Textile art isn't exactly popular in Jamaica, but Smith believes the time is right.

"There's definitely a market, I just need to show people what textile art is capable of doing. Once they see it, they'll understand," she said. Her very first piece, a fiery red gradient called Crimson Whisper, was entered in a Jamaica Cultural Development Commission visual arts competition.

"I mainly entered to get eyes on the piece, I have high hopes of people seeing it and loving it," she said. Smith admitted that she didn't know exactly what she was doing, as it was trial and error.

"That first piece nearly broke me. I had to use two different tufting guns, one heavy and hard to handle, and the fabric kept tearing. Then when I brought it to be framed, they didn't even know how to frame textile art. The piece kept slipping out and flopping over. I had to figure it out myself," she recalled. Smith said that she has always dabbled in drawing, painting and graphic design.

"Then in 2022 I came across tufting. Most people were using it to make rugs, but I thought, no, this can be more than that." Taking it public, though, was another challenge, as Smith admitted that she's an introvert.

"So putting myself out there has been hard. At first, nobody knew - not my friends, not my co-workers, not even people at church," she admitted. "Only my mom and my sisters [knew]. I was scared of judgement, scared of rejection. But one day I realised, if I want to move from where I am to where I want to be, I have to do this."

Her big step came on her birthday earlier this year, when friends encouraged her to "just go for it".

"So I made the leap. I posted a video, and that one video doubled my following overnight. That showed me the power of putting it out there."

Now, she posts consistently and collaborates with other creatives to grow her audience. She described her pieces as free-flowing and meditative.

"I doodle a lot, and that's what comes out in the yarn. I like gradients, watching the colours move from light to dark. I want people to feel calmness and joy when they see my work. I want them to connect with it, to let it take them somewhere," she said. Smith said that she sees herself hosting exhibitions, and receiving commissions from overseas.

"I see my work in hotels, in villas, in corporate spaces. I even see partnerships with yarn companies. That's where I'm heading," she declared.

"I really believe textile art has a place in Jamaica, I just have to show people what it can do."