Urban cross stitch

Urban cross stitcher Phil Davison

If ever there was an example of the mish-mashing of cultures that East London thrives on, then it is the work of 29 year old Phil Davison, the Urban Cross Stitcher.

With its fetish for all that is young, new and alternative and its equal love of ‘vintage’ and tradition, it stands to reason then, that East London is the home of the boom in cross stitch graffiti.

A bit of history before we get bang up to date – young Phil, the hero of the piece, learnt his craft from an adopted grandmother, whilst an exchange student smack in the heart of America’s bible belt. Here, where craft is second only to God, Phil removed himself from the boredom in the dust and tumbleweed by learning cross stitch.

Years later, Phil left his Belfast home to find glory as a print cutter in the terribly fashionable world of London fashion, before he realised it wasn’t quite his cup of tea. But what was his cup of tea? As he had so often before, he sat down, took up his cross stitch and allowed himself to stitch his cares away.

Unfortunately the haberdashery department of John Lewis doesn’t often cater for trendy London types (or trendy any location types, in order not to be too London-centric) and Phil found himself nauseated and impatient with the Forever Friends designs or scenes from a Victorian winter wonderland.

Banksy’s Flower bomber first inspired Phil to take his Urban cross stitching adventures to a whole new level.  “I’ve always loved graffiti. Belfast is incredible for political street art, and it’s always fascinated me – not enough to catch me with my hood up and a spray can in my hand though, that doesn’t seem too relaxing”.

Maybe if you didn’t have to do it in the dead of night with fear of getting busted, it might have been the walls of Bow that benefited from his artistic skill.

Having made one Flower Bomber, one request followed another from friends and friends of friends, and (after years of hard work) before he knew it, he had a business on his hands.

“I first started officially selling pieces from a stall in the Backyard Market, an indoor market at the Old Truman Brewery and a spin off from the Sunday Up Market just off Brick Lane. It was the perfect place, particularly as a beginner, as there’s a real passion for art in the area. It’s also great fun to be there, however hungover you are on a Sunday morning, it’s a friendly, interested crowd.”

“Street art from around the world inspires the designs. I often carry a camera around with me and even if nothing jumps out at me immediately, I might revisit that picture six months later and get an idea from it. Berlin this August was really inspirational and I’m also constantly buying books on street art – I’m really interested in Mexican designs but as I don’t speak the language I have to be fairly careful as they too can be extremely political.”

It’s not all about street art though, and designs featuring images and references to what we can call ‘marital aids’ and other adult material (is there a way of saying that without sounding prudish?) make up the rest of his offerings, with both finished pieces and kits available.

Phil originally expected his clients to be women in their twenties, but found that often the attention of men of all ages was grabbed by his stall. “When I first thought of making this into a real, thriving business, I guess I did imagine that the target audience would be the females of Shoreditch, women who maybe already have an interest in craft. But the reaction from guys coming up was perhaps the most surprising thing about it initially. They’d come up staring, saying ‘That looks cool’ and pick patterns up, and then their girlfriends would come over, grab them and pull them away, not wanting them to look at cross stitch for too long, as if that was something to worry about! Actually, the majority of business is still from women, but only by about 60–40 per cent. Maybe cross stitch is more unisex than it seems.”
Like Fraggle Rock, Space Invaders and British Bulldog, cross stitch often takes people back to their childhood and fond memories. “A lot of people on the market would come up to us, really delighted, saying ‘Oh God, I used to do this when I was 10, but there’s nothing I’d actually want to stitch’. Then they’d see the designs we do and be excited about getting back into it again.”

Not all the responses to Phil’s designs have been positive though. “I have had random older people coming up to me, with stern faces, questioning the designs. At one craft fair people kept telling me they were disgusting, but weirdly they sold brilliantly at the same time! Often the most important thing for the older stitchers is whether the final result is done neatly – if the back is messy they get really cross. It’s terrifying.”

A night of Cupcakes, Cocktails and Cross Stitch came about to enlighten the people of Hackney and beyond in the ancient art of the stitch and maybe, one day, to get the whole world stitching.

Phil held his first event, which aimed to bring together beginners and more experienced stitchers in a cool environment with a fully stocked bar and kitsch snacks, in Brick Lane in October 2008.

There have been six events throughout East London since that first triumph, and despite “millions of emails” asking for another, there are only vague dates in the diary for the next.

Success clearly does have its downsides – Phil is so busy selling and designing patterns he barely has time to answer email enquiries, let along organise the next hoedown.  Keeping up with demand for designs, meetings with suppliers and completing orders means he works like a one-man sweatshop.

So now, leaps and bounds away from the original, serene way to pass the time, is it less enjoyable, less therapeutic? Apparently not. “It has an added dimension but it hasn’t really changed for me – the business side has added stresses but luckily I still enjoy it. If I think I’m stressed all I need to do is speak to my friends about their day jobs, that soon puts it into perspective.”