Photo by Zane Lee
New work | New Knitwear and a Hamilton Gardens first
Plus, the question I keep coming back to is about cloth, design, and technology.
If you ever find yourself in the Waikato, a visit to Hamilton Gardens should be at the top of your list. It's one of the most quietly magical places in New Zealand — a consistent top tourist attraction, but vast enough that even on a busy day you'll find a still moment in a beautiful corner. I recently had the privilege of trying to capture some of that magic in a tea towel.
More than 18 themed gardens, each one a world unto itself — it took some doing to distil it all into a single design. I'm proud of the result. The tea towel is available exclusively through the Hamilton Gardens Gift Shop — one of the best gift shops in New Zealand, in my opinion. They are serious about quality and support local talent.
New: Handknit Vests & Tank Tops
If you love wool, you likely appreciate its warmth and understand that some textiles carry a unique heritage that fast fashion can't replicate.
Living Craft is a one-person operation — my mother — and she is quietly obsessed with what wool can do. Spin it, weave it, knit it. After a conversation about vests and tank tops (a long-standing obsession of mine), the sampling began. What emerged is a small, eccentric range made from wool, alpaca, and mohair yarns — each one handmade, each one one-of-a-kind until the next one comes off the needles.
These won't be restocked in the way a regular product would be. When they're gone, they're gone — until she makes another one. (custom orders welcome)
Linen Tea Towels — Stock update
The linen tea towel collections are growing, but each series is limited edition, and some are nearly gone:
· Kiwi — sold out
· Tūī — very low numbers remaining
· Fantail — very low numbers remaining
· Vintage Rose — low across all colourways
If you're travelling soon and need gifts that pack beautifully, or if you're the kind of person who shops for Christmas in winter, now is the time.
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New: Pōhutukawa Collection
The pōhutukawa has been part of my practice since 2004 — it's where the brand began, and it continues to draw me back. The newest additions to the collection have just arrived.
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On the Website — A Few Changes Worth Explaining
If you haven't visited alidavies.co.nz in a while, you'll notice things have shifted. The site has been reframed around something I've always believed and has always been there, but just not clearly enough: everything I make comes from an art practice. Textiles are the medium.
The question of technology
Digital printing has made it possible to put almost anything onto cloth. That freedom poses two questions I find myself constantly asking: how to stay authentic and how to honour tradition without refusing what technology genuinely offers. Striking that balance is, for me, the foundation of everything.
The cloth matters as much as the design
My answer is this: the pattern and the cloth it lives on have to work in harmony.
Neither can carry the other. This is why I only print on cloth made the way it should be: GOTS-certified organic cotton, linen, or hemp — safe for humans and kind to nature. The design has to be worthy of the cloth. The cloth has to be worthy of the design.
William Morris said it well — perhaps better than anyone has since. He believed art should be woven into everyday life, that well-made things should be available to everyone, and that beauty and utility are not opposites. His most quoted line is still one used widely today: "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." He would, I suspect, have something sharp to say about synthetic microfibres carrying his designs today.
Why this matters to you
When you bring something from my studio into your home, it has been considered at every level — the drawing, the printing and the cloth itself. That's not a marketing position. It's just how the work is made.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the new website.
Enjoy your day. Thank you for being here.
Ali xx
