Call the fuzz – there’s a new craft in town

The rug-making technique of tufting is traditionally used to create carpets, in which a tufting gun punches yarn through fabric and loops or cuts it to create a thick pile. The British furniture designer Max Lamb has been toying with the technique for over a decade; two of his tufted chairs are currently on display at Gallery Fumi in London (pictured).

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, the artist Anna Perach creates surreal anthropomorphic sculptures that are not only tactile but wearable. Taking tufting to a fine art with wall-hung canvases is Swedish artist Alfhild Külper. And in South America, Argentine artist Alexandra Kehayoglou invites viewers of her three-dimensional work to sink directly into them and feel the fibres beneath their feet.

This woolly obsession has seen DIY workshops popping up around the UK – at Tadatuft in Leeds and Tufting London, for instance, you can get trigger happy with a tufting gun yourself and walk away with a completely bespoke, joyful.