Sitting still is difficult for artist London Kaye. When we met for coffee, I noticed her furiously crocheting away, creating a six-tiered wedding cake made out of white yarn that resembled creamy frosting. From within, a rainbow seemed to be spilling out.
“People will look at me and ask what I’m making,” says Kaye. “Most often, I say a blanket because usually I’m making something ridiculous, like a tomato, and that’s a weird conversation to have…”
The New York City-based artist’s repertoire of crocheted artwork ranges from embellished IKEA shopping bags to completely encased Nike sneakers. Imagine your favorite pair of running shoes pimped out with colorful yarn wrapping around the familiar swooping Nike logo—a unique style statement and fresh interpretation of a traditional brand.
Kaye’s intricate pieces have been growing in popularity, and her unique designs were recently featured in a show at Bushwick Open Studios in Brooklyn. Her work has graced the windows of ABC Carpet & Home in New York, and major pieces have been commissioned by companies ranging from Starbucks to the Drake Hotel.
In recent years, she’s also been a part of the fashion world, working with big-name designers like Tia Cibani and Isaac Mizrahi.
“Because I was never trained professionally,” Kaye points out, “I’m not worried about the proper way to make things or do things. This usually turns out in my favor.”
The most invigorating project for her is what she’s known for on the streets: “yarn bombing,” or covering trees, fences, or other familiar objects with massive amounts of yarn. She uses various shapes, patterns, and colors in her work, creating impossibly blue water pouring out of a pipe or a life-size replication of a popular cartoon character.
Kaye says that yarn bombing is often a community project, with people getting together to cover the side of a building with a large piece of fabric or use colorful string to completely envelope a garden.
Kaye learned how to crochet when she was 13, throwing herself into the hobby more seriously after an injury meant she couldn’t pursue her first love, dance, for a full year. It was her personal escape during a difficult time, and now she’s made it her duty to brighten up the city with large-scale installations. It’s hard not to smile when you see “give peace a chance” crocheted in eye-popping colors.
Inspiration for the projects comes in different ways. Kaye may discover a fence she wants to cover with a splash of color, or stumble across a particular image that grabs her attention. Once she has an idea, she uses an app to turn her idea into a pattern. Then she crochets each and every shape that will make up the final image.
“It’s kind of like animation, in the sense that you draw in layers,” she explains. “You have the face that may be a big circle, and then you have the two eyes that sit on top. I crochet the individual pieces to create the final piece of art.”
The process of crocheting is very therapeutic to Kaye, who says that she always has her materials in tow. Whether she’s sitting on the subway or on a bench in a park, her hands are always moving.
Lately Kaye has been hanging something new once or twice a week, but she remembers a time early in her crocheting career where she had a burst of creativity, challenging herself to create an original work every day for an entire month.
“It forced me to tap into my creativity, try new things, and figure out my style,” Kaye says. “I didn’t think too much about what I was creating because the art lived on the streets, which kept me from wondering whether it was good enough. It was free—it’s art! Who could say anything negative? I was doing it to make people happy.”
Kaye is hilarious and lighthearted and quirky, which is yet another reason her art is so captivating. She crochets because the process brings her peace of mind, but also because she genuinely hopes to brighten people’s day.
“The diversity of people that are able to connect with the art is so surprising and it really makes me happy,” says Kaye. “Sometimes, after I hang something up, I take a step back to sit there and just observe people.”
Kaye says she loves when people take photos of her work, especially when they pose like the characters she has created.
“Sometimes we just don’t appreciate the moment like we should,” she says. “We get so caught up in the anxiety of life, and we should step back more often and remember everything is alright.”