The Architectural Poetry of Peter Collingwood’s Woven Tapestries

The loom, in Peter Collingwood’s hands, became an instrument of architectural thinking. Where others saw functional cloth, he envisioned compositions of extraordinary spatial dimension: macrogauze wall hangings that breathed light and shadow, structure and void, in a dialogue between weaver and material that few have matched.

Collingwood’s practice emerged from a singular conviction that weaving possessed an intellectual rigour comparable to any fine art discipline. His macrogauze pieces, developed from the early 1970s onwards, exemplify this philosophy most eloquently. The technique itself, which separates warps to create open geometric passages, demands absolute precision of hand and eye. Yet the aesthetic outcome transcends mere technical mastery, arriving instead at something approaching poetry rendered in thread.

The Macrogauze M113, featured in Margaret Howell’s 2026 calendar for November, typifies Collingwood’s austere elegance. Conceived around 1972, the piece unfolds across dimensions of 100 by 52 centimetres, a deliberately expansive proportion that invites the eye to wander across its surface. The open weave creates a rhythm of solid and transparent passages, allowing light to participate actively in the work’s composition. It is neither painting nor textile in the conventional sense, but rather a meditation on the essential possibilities of the woven medium itself.

Margaret Howell’s decision to foreground Collingwood’s work throughout 2026 speaks to a shared sensibility: a commitment to clarity of purpose, to materials treated with reverence, to design that eschews ornament in favour of profound structural integrity. Collingwood spent his lifetime exploring the outer reaches of what the loom could express, and his legacy remains that of a genuine innovator, someone who expanded the vocabulary of textile art permanently.

The macrogauze wall hangings occupy a particular place within twentieth century craft history. They represent a moment when the distinction between craft and art dissolved entirely, when the hand and the intellectual vision became inseparable. Collingwood’s influence reverberates through contemporary textile practice, though few have approached his combination of technical mastery and conceptual ambition.

To live alongside one of these works is to inhabit a space transformed by geometry and light. The macrogauze catches and releases illumination as day passes, altering its presence subtly from hour to hour. It is the hallmark of truly significant design that it rewards sustained looking, that it yields new observations with familiarity rather than diminishing through repetition.

Imagery courtesy of Margaret Howell (@margarethowellltd).