London based artist Martha Hussey creates textile works that unite technical skill with a gentle, attentive way of seeing. Working with thread, fibre and embroidery, she uses stitch to observe and record the subtle rhythms of everyday life. Much of her practice is rooted in paying attention to small, often overlooked experiences.

For Martha, stitching is a form of slowing down, a way of stretching time long enough to hold what might otherwise pass unnoticed. Through embroidery, she returns significance to morning routines, familiar hobbies, seasonal rituals and the small celebrations that shape the year.

We sat down with Martha to chat to her about her art practice and her approach to creativity...

Martha is trained in art therapy and feels this has strengthened her intuition for emotional undercurrents. The needle becomes a tool of grounding and connection, capable of capturing both the visible and the invisible. In works like Jump, a figure suspended just before leaping forward, she captures the stillness within motion, the breath held between anticipation and release.

Martha’s practice spans embroidery, weaving, tufting and appliqué, techniques she often layers within a single piece to build rich surfaces of colour and texture. Her palette choices are thoughtful and expressive, giving her textiles a sense of depth that bridges the worlds of fibre and paint. The result is work that feels intimate yet expansive, simple in subject but complex in craftsmanship.

Martha's subject matter ranges widely but always circles back to being human. Her skull series, prints and stitched Fragments, offer a quiet reminder of life’s fragility and encourage viewers “to take each moment as it comes and live to the fullest.” In contrast, her stitched children’s drawing Cheater brings a playful looseness to her practice.

This duality, between fragility and joy, careful detail and spontaneous expression, runs throughout Martha's work.

Her process is long, immersive and rhythmic. Martha often stitches from early morning into the evening, beginning her day with a slow routine: a coffee, a few messages, yoga or pilates. Her workspace transforms throughout the day, threads spreading into organised chaos, before returning to order each night. The end of a piece is marked by a celebratory full reset of the space.

Mobility is essential to her practice. After graduating from Central Saint Martins as a painter, Martha sought a medium that could travel with her.

Textiles proved Martha's answer, allowing her to stitch anywhere, on trains, on walks, settled under trees or by windows. These moments of making often spark conversations, turning chance encounters into part of the artwork’s wider story. The addition of tufting, latch hook and wool embroidery has expanded her scale and added depth, inviting Martha to push further into texture and dimension.

Martha Hussey’s practice is shaped by care, patience and an ability to see significance in the overlooked. Her works encourage us to slow down and engage with the subtle rhythms that make up everyday life. Through colour, texture and finely worked stitch she builds images that feel both intimate and expansive. She honours the ordinary by giving it time, material and intention. In doing so she reminds us that the quiet moments we often miss are full of depth and emotional truth. The world she creates in thread is one of stillness, humour and warm observation, and it invites us to look again at the moments that form the fabric of our own lives.