Emily Katz makes grown women giddy. On a Saturday afternoon in February, a group gathers in her studio for her macramé workshop. “I obsess over you on Instagram,” says a 24-year-old hotel receptionist. “I can’t believe I’m actually here!” Rain drizzles, Beach House plays on the stereo, a tiny dog circles the room, and eight women sit on high stools, clutching rope, awaiting instruction. Welcome to Portland, Oregon.
Just over two years ago, Katz – a stylist and designer – was asked by a group of Japanese magazine editors where they could buy a macramé plant hanger that was suspended from a beam in her bathroom. She could have made one and sold it to them, but that’s not the Portland way. Instead, she taught them how to do it. Today, she travels the US – mostly Los Angeles, New York and Austin – and increasingly abroad, running macramé workshops: hundreds of people following her hands, making plant hangers, wall hangings, jewellery and clothes.
Katz’s home, which she shares with her boyfriend and fellow designer Adam Porterfield, reflects her love for the craft. Hanging in a street-facing picture window is a large macramé curtain. “This was technically a mistake,” she tells her 100,000 Instagram followers. It’s a commission that went wrong. “Luckily for me, it means I get to hang it in my living room.”
Macramé, the craft of knot tying, last enjoyed favour in the 1970s. So why is it desirable now? “It’s handmade and natural,” Katz says. “We’re so connected to technology and this is different.” And the appeal of doing it yourself? “It’s easy to learn – a lot of craft is about perfection, but macramé allows for whimsy. And the repetition of taking the ropes and tying the knots is meditative.”
Katz does both bespoke work and off-the-peg sales through her site, modernmacrame.com. The local Ace hotel bought a giant knotted tent, and her pieces hang at hip Portland restaurant Ned Ludd. Katz points out she’s not the only influential macramé artist right now, namechecking Michigan-based Sally England as an inspiration; but she’s popularising it as a pastime like no one else.
In her home, light-filled rooms are busied with foliage: ferns, cacti, bleeding hearts. A plant trails from the hanger that triggered her first workshop: it was made by her mother who handed down the craft. But it’s not all fairytale. “Mom split town when I was nine. We weren’t close over the years: there was resentment when she started a new family.” But on a road trip from the west to east coast, Katz’s boyfriend asked to meet her mother, and, “after hitting 30, I decided it was time to reassess our relationship”. Katz thought a shared interest might give them something to bond over. “I knew she’d sold macramé plant hangers in the 70s to buy a guitar, so I asked her to teach me.”
While that 70s vibe runs through Katz’s home, with patterned rugs hung on walls and low-slung furniture, the mood is overwhelmingly modern. Walls are brilliant white, the kitchen worktop is concrete and the palette muted with warm, desert colours. There’s a zing of life that brings the outdoors in, epitomising a Pacific Northwest mood.
Wood and salvage are celebrated: in the living room, a reclaimed branch is suspended from the ceiling with lights fixed to it. “We were trying to find a way to light the whole room evenly but softly. We hauled pieces of wood from a river into my tiny car,” Katz says. In another project, Porterfield reclaimed lath (thin flat strips of wood) from the remodelling of the house and tiled it around a partition wall.
Many of their pieces were bought from Craigslist and thrift stores: a marble lazy Susan, a handcarved wooden chain, numerous textiles. “Thrifting” is a fantastic pastime: “We can really case a joint. We split up when we walk in the door. I’ll be heading to the blankets and Adam will shout, ‘I already went there.’”
The couple live the portfolio career dream. On top of Katz’s business, they rent their two spare rooms on Airbnb. (They also periodically rent out the whole house, when work takes them away.) Porterfield is an established screen printer and musician.
If the whole thing feels a bit like a scene from a hip sitcom, well, it is. A location scout for the US TV show Portlandia, set in the city, found the couple’s home on Airbnb and shot an episode there.
“I used a phone charger that belonged to Carrie Brownstein [the female lead] and ate lunch with Fred [Armisen, the male lead],” Katz says with some excitement. It’s all just about enough to make a grown woman giddy.
House rules
Most extravagant purchase A vintage Falcon chair by Sigurd Ressell for $400. So many of our things are gifts from friends, trades with other artists or Instagram swaps.
Interiors style I call it Romantic Bohemian Modern.
Best tip Ditch all your TV furniture. Wall-mount your screen, run cables through the wall and, when not in use, cover with a strong textile.
Design hero Ray and Charles Eames. I went to their LA house and loved how they hung paintings on the ceiling.
Organisational mantra Rearrange seasonally and self-edit your belongings regularly.
How to use indoor plants Place a big palm to form an arc in a room – and plenty of cacti.
Pet hate Fluorescent lighting.
Loom large: where you can learn macramé in the UK
Knots & Shots, Bristol Make a hanging planter at workshops at the Phoenix Cafe, All Saints Street.
Sheffield Craft Lab and Moonko shop, Sheffield Modern macramé for beginners and enthusiasts.
Grace & Thorn, London E2 Create plant hangers while listening to hip-hop and drinking prosecco
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