Lydia May Hann
Lydia May Hann is a British costume designer, maker, artist and knitter living between Whitby, North Yorkshire, and Oslo, Norway. Her artistic practice examines the relationship between material, body and story placing costume at the centre of performance making. Lydia is drawn to create performances that embrace elements of nature and the site-specific, elevating the beauty of the temporary and spontaneous.
Lydia creates costumes and textile works that celebrate the mythological and folkloric as real powers in everyday life that can be brought alive through acts of making. Using the power of the sea as a crafting companion, Lydia creates textiles meant to be submerged and affected by the sea, the salt water baptising her costumes into life. Lydia prioritises localy found materials that can be trusted to decompose over time, the tragedy and beauty of mortality following through in her folkloric interests.
Lydia has worked as a costumer for many years and recently completed an MA in design at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. She has exhibited in Norway, Japan and the UK and considers every day a new performance.
.I am currently available to discuss projects and knitwear commissions and collaborations for 2024.
What can I do for you?
Knitwear- I offer bespoke design services for knitted garments and fabrics. A custom knit garment can make a statement on stage, screen or on the street. You can be confident in your green credentials by working with me to make genuinely traceable, carbon neutral material choices
Costume design and making - I design and make costumes for theatre, opera, film and tv. I prioritise projects that are open to meeting the challenges of a sustainable approach to costuming and appreciate the value of costume in story telling. I trained in historical costume making for theatre and film at the Northern College of Costume and am open to discussing your historically accurate or historically inspired projects
Workshops - I offer workshops in wet and needle felting to educate about raw wool as an undervalued recourse. I can also offer lessons in machine knitting for beginner.
Performance collaboration - I am open to discuss collaborations with artists who would like to use my costumes as part of a performance.