Angela Tong, Multidisciplinary Maker

Knitters and crocheters know Angela Tong as a designer with hooks and needles, while weavers recognize her work in rigid-heddle and pin looms. Visitors to galleries and artisan markets know her as a potter. Angela thinks of herself simply as a maker, always drawn to creating beauty with her hands.

Her first professional job set the tone: after earning a degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology, she produced fine platinum jewelry for Tiffany & Co. But beginning in her teens, she keenly felt the urge to learn to knit. A colleague at that first job taught her the knit stitch—just the knit stitch—and opened the world of fiber arts for her. Discovering a talent for clarifying instructions while test knitting other designers’ work, she began submitting designs for publication. Although she had not initially pictured herself as a teacher, that skill of clear explanation led her to teaching, and she eventually became a certified knitting instructor.

Angela discovered another fiber-arts love in PieceWork March/April 2010, which featured pin looms on the cover. She tracked down a handmade pin loom from a small maker, wove a doll blanket, and never looked back. Her pin-loom and rigid-heddle designs regularly appear in Little Looms, and she is a popular instructor at Weave Together events.

In each of her crafts, Angela’s style is symmetrical and refined, with an emphasis on finishing that she describes as a through line in everything she makes, from pottery to pin-loom blankets.

Whatever the medium, Angela brings the same exacting eye and genuine delight in craft — whether she's warping a loom, trimming a pot, or teaching a roomful of students to hem stitch.

Links

PieceWork March/April 2010 featured a pin-loom blanket on the cover.

Angela’s pin loom videos Creative Pin-Loom Designs and Weave Patterns on the Pin Loom are available from Long Thread Media.

Angela was featured in the pilot episode of the proposed Swatch series.

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