From the archives: Stitching time with Richard McVetis

Show Notes

Takeaways from this episode:

• Stitch as a metaphor for time

  Richard sees each stitch as a punctuation mark, a tiny, lived moment made visible. His embroidery becomes a form of mapping, giving shape to time through patient repetition and process.

• Imperfection as an offering

  Though his work appears precise, Richard intentionally leaves room for randomness and imperfection. “The attempt is there to be perfect,” he says, “but perfection is never achievable and that’s okay”.

• Crafting space and scale

  Whether working with embroidery on a stitched cube or designing immersive installations, Richard is drawn to how objects inhabit space. He sees sculpture as a kind of performance, inviting us to walk around and experience time from different angles.

• Black and white as an act of reduction

  Choosing to work in monochrome is a conscious act of focus. In a world saturated with visual noise, Richard pares back to line, texture, and pattern, revealing the beauty of simplicity.

• Art as a way of thinking

  Deeply curious about physics, perception, and human experience, Richard uses art to engage with big questions. For him, embroidery is more than craft - it's a way of making sense of the world, one stitch at a time.

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Explore the artwork from this episode below

During the live interview, we shared some images of Richards’s artwork. Since you’re listening to the podcast version, we’ve made these images available for you below.