About
Erin Bassett is an award-winning textile artist based in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. An exhibiting artist since 2002 after graduating from the UF with a BFA in Creative Photography. Erin continued her studies at the Savannah College of Art + Design, where she received her MFA in Fibers in 2012 after falling in love with fabrics. She started Erin Bassett Artistry in 2015. Her accessories line was inspired by her mother Sherry, who suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease. To honor her memory, Erin donates her time and part of the profits to research. Erin designs, sculpts, and creates artistic wall art, wearable art accessories, and site-specific installations that are fascinating, unexpected, and original.
“My artwork is a magical landscape of shapes that invites the eye to investigate what it’s seeing. I combine ancient techniques like Shibori with silk, a material that was discovered and cultivated by women, as well as brand new materials like Malai, a flexible, organic, up-cycled material with a feel comparable to fine leather to create my wearable Works of Art.”
Malai is a brand new material the artist found during quarantine in 2020. While on a Pantone color webinar, the host mentioned sustainability as a trend. She went on to cite several examples including a faux leather made out of recycled coconut husks. Something in Erin’s brain went off and she had to know more so after the webinar, she was on their site ordering samples. As soon as the samples arrived, Erin started experimenting and when she found a paint that would stick to the waterproof material she got really excited. It happened to be the same fabric paint she has been using for years on her fabric creates since it inherently dried waterproof, a characteristic needed for jewelry! This new material has characteristics of paper, but it isn’t paper… It has characteristics of leather, but it isn’t leather. It’s its own new, unique material that is pliable, sculptable, paintable, water-resistant, vegan, sustainable, and eco-friendly. Not only does it help to offset the waste of the coconut industry, which harvests the flesh and discards the husk, but it’s even biodegradable! Each piece in the Ladies Night Out collection is named after iconic women like Carrie’s City (from Sex in the City) or Erin’s close group of girlfriends like Lily’s Flower named after her best friend’s daughter, Lily.
“I want the eco-conscience wearer to not only feel empowered by this connection between fashion and technology but also unique and special knowing it was handmade in the USA by an artist from a sustainable material. This is statement jewelry without the weight of the statement. No animals or planets were harmed in the making of this jewelry”