About Heidi Hammel

I became a wool sweater addict at the impressionable age of 12, when my family traveled to Norway. I have worked with fiber ever since. Thrift and creativity prompted me to learn how to sew and decorate my own clothes. In early adulthood, I designed and stitched fine embroidery on apparel and accessories, card-wove belts, made clothes and ran a commercial slipcover and re-upholstery business while earning a bachelor’s degree in Chinese Studies. After 25 years as a leader in progressive education, I resumed a focused exploration of fiber arts in 1998. Two overarching principles guide my work. As a student and former teacher at The School in Rose Valley, which started in the heart of the 1920’s Arts and Crafts era, I absorbed the ethic that an artisan strives to make quality hand-made objects that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. As the child of an avid naturalist, I learned to honor the intrinsic connections between all things.