Frances van Hasselt
Designer and entrepreneur
About Speaker
Frances van Hasselt is a designer and entrepreneur developing mohair textiles within a local South African context. Raised on a mohair farm in the Karoo, she has a deep affinity for this natural fibre. She collaborates with a team of women artisans in the Karoo, allowing the natural environment to inform every aspect of their design and making process.
Working purely with mohair, FRANCES V.H Mohair is one of the only textile studios developing products informed by the full life cycle of Angora goats and their environment, allowing the raw material to define the final piece.
Her work creating an inclusive, sustainable supply chain adapted to the South African textile ecosystem earned her a Mandela Washington Fellowship. Her collaboration with Kate Otten Architects, Threads, was shown at the 2023 Venice Biennale. FRANCES V.H Mohair has been selected as an artisanal studio under the Homo Faber, Michelangelo Foundation, umbrella of creatives and craftsmanship.
As an educator, van Hasselt develops “Farm to Fabric” courses for institutions including Polimoda in Florence and Parsons in New York, tracing textiles back to rainfall, land, animal wellbeing, herdsmen, water quality, and the communities that shape fibres into fabric.