There is something about Fitzrovia’s narrow streets that, when you reach the door of Tristan Hoare Gallery, greets you with a distinctly modern silence. On the London floor of Apartment No:26 this month, we open our windows not just to an exhibition, but to a story of ascent. In her second solo exhibition titled Ascendance, Sussy Cazalet fuses the ancient craft of weaving with the sharp intelligence of contemporary abstraction. It is a journey upward from the stillness—and sometimes melancholy—of winter’s darkness toward light and motion. The artist transforms the disciplined gaze she brings from her background in architecture and design into a free “fiber painting” at the loom. If you are weary of the coldness of the digital and long to take refuge in the ancient warmth of natural fibers and hand-mixed dyes, the atmosphere of this floor will refresh your soul.
From Architecture to Loom: The Balance of Control and Intuition
Sussy Cazalet’s art is, in fact, the woven form of a search: the delicate line between control and spontaneity, logic and emotion. Coming from the structural discipline of architecture, the artist begins each weaving with a methodical system. Yet once she sits at the loom, that system gives way to an instinctive flow.
The exhibition brings together fourteen hand-woven wall tapestries born from the artist’s initial watercolor and pigment studies on paper. These watercolor sketches are the first station where complex ideas are distilled into simplified color and form. Later, these miniature worlds are enlarged and gain depth between warp and weft; shadows, textures, and monumental scale emerge. The resulting works are not merely tapestries; they are maps of vast inner landscapes shaped by intuition and imagination.
Nature’s Geometry and Cosmic Cycles
Cazalet draws inspiration from nature’s ceaseless cycles. The rhythmic movement of sun and moon, the shifting power of wind and waves, find their place in the interplay of geometric forms throughout the exhibition. Color acts here as a unifying force; the intensity and momentum flowing through the works create a warmth that draws the viewer in. Ascendance represents a gradual movement away from stillness and darkness—the moment when fragments come together to form something higher.
A Design Legacy: Mid-Century and Textile
One of the most elegant touches in the exhibition is the dialogue between Cazalet’s chosen mid-century modern vintage furniture and the weavings. A tribute to the artist’s own roots in design and her admiration for the aesthetics of that era, this arrangement transforms the gallery from a mere exhibition space into a sophisticated lived-in apartment. The hand-painted watercolor studies and textiles together with this furniture prove how art can seamlessly integrate into everyday life.
Exhibition Details
Artist: Sussy Cazalet
Exhibition Title: Ascendance
Venue: Tristan Hoare Gallery, London
Dates: February 6 – March 20, 2026
Highlights: Fourteen hand-woven wall tapestries, watercolor studies, and the artist’s selected vintage furniture collection.
Before leaving this floor of Apartment No:26, let yourself get lost for a while among these woven landscapes. Cazalet’s fibers promise a peace that will quiet the chaos of the “boiler room” in your mind while leaving the noise of the city outside.
