Ali Güreli is an entrepreneur, cultural leader and founder and chairman of Contemporary Istanbul, one of the region’s leading contemporary art fairs. For over two decades, he has championed Istanbul as a global hub for artistic exchange, bringing together artists, institutions, collectors and international audiences. Working at the intersection of art, culture and urban development, Güreli brings valuable insight into the role of creativity in fostering dialogue, shaping cultural identity and building connections across borders.
Anders Petterson is the founder and CEO of ArtTactic Ltd, a London-based art market research and analysis company established in 2001. A pioneer in using crowd-sourcing techniques to gather art market intelligence, ArtTactic publishes global reports in collaboration with partners including Deloitte, Hiscox, Mishcon de Reya, Sophie Macpherson SML, and Sotheby’s. Anders regularly lectures on art market topics at Sotheby’s Institute, Christie’s Education, and ESA Beirut, and served as a founding board member of PAIAM from 2011 to 2021.
Chimere Cissé is an art collector and founder with over a decade of experience in the cultural sector. She launched ArtKōrero in 2021 to connect commercial engagement with the arts and recently founded STELLA Alliance to increase the visibility of women art collectors. Previously, she represented the United Nations International Trade Centre and held senior roles at Burberry, Hearst UK, Harper’s Bazaar, and ELLE. Dedicated to philanthropy, she actively supports global charities including the British Council and Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation, where she is a long-standing committee chair.
Divya Sharma is a London-based British Indian textile artist and an alumna of the Royal College of Art, London. Her practice brings together myth, memory, and the cultural world of her mother tongue, Tamil. She was recently awarded the Visual Artists Association International Scholarship Award for 2025. She has conceived and curated five shows as founder of The Neulinge Collective and the Post-Colonials Collective. She is also the founder and host of the ARTiculate podcast and broadcasts on Apple Podcasts.
Dr. Shwetal Patel is a writer and researcher working at the intersection of contemporary visual art, exhibition-making, and development studies. A founding member of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, he played a key role in launching the initiative and building its international partnerships. He holds a practice-based PhD from the Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, and lectures internationally at institutions such as the Zürich University of the Arts, the Royal College of Art, and the University of Exeter. He also serves as trustee for the Milton Keynes Museum, Coventry Biennial, and the Kakar Centre of Psychoanalysis & Culture.
Jeffrey Boloten is Director of Art Business and Enterprise Programmes at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. He co-founded and serves as Managing Director of ArtInsight Ltd., the educational partner of art market research firm ArtTactic. With a background in law, publishing (including Penguin Books), and institutional roles at the Tate and a London art college, Jeffrey is a frequent speaker on the global art, photography, and art investment markets. He also co-directs Sotheby’s Enterprise Studio and is a founding member of PAIAM (Professional Advisors to the International Art Market).
Leo Crane is a producer, artist and educator with over 25 years of experience across physical and digital creative industries. He has founded three creative studios and in 2024, established the AI Film Academy, focusing on innovation in contemporary moving image practice. He leads courses in art and art business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and serves on the board of Animate Projects. His artistic practice spans animated film, figurative painting and experimental digital works, and his work has been widely exhibited, screened and awarded internationally. He is currently producing his debut feature film The Masterpiece of Tamagata, and is the author of Contemporary Figures in Watercolour (2021).
Mark Davy is the founder of Futurecity, a multidisciplinary agency dedicated to culture-driven placemaking. He has led private sector investment in major art projects including the Crossrail Culture Line, the Illuminated River Project, and the cultural strategy for Wembley Park. Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and contributes to several boards and panels, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Advisory Panel, Hypha Studios, the Land Economic Society, the NLA Expert Panel for Culture, and the National Trust Regional Advisory Group.
Marta Orsola Sironi is a curator and critic based between Milan and London. She is co-founder and curator of MEGA Art Fair, which reimagines the art fair as an immersive, curated experience activating regenerated urban spaces with exhibitions, performances, talks, and music. Together with Mauro Mattei, she co-directs BeAdvisors Art Department, producing curated shows, cultural events, and collectors’ programmes across international art calendars. Her research focuses on decolonial feminism, identity, language, and memory, with a strong interest in urban space as a site of resistance.
Nicole Schoeni is an art dealer, collector, patron, and founder of Schoeni Projects. Previously, Nicole was the director of Schoeni Art Gallery, one of Asia's most influential art venues. Nicole has since curated the Hong Kong section of the China 8 exhibition and has consulted on arts projects such as for the Grand Lisboa Palace in Macau. She is an active patron of numerous foundations, is on the advisory team for Arts for Good Foundation, and sits on the Board of Directors of Asian Art in London.
Portuguese visual artist Paulo Arraiano explores the intersections of art, culture, nature, and technology through a multidisciplinary practice. He is co-founder of Re_Act Contemporary, an international art laboratory and residency programme based in the Azores that fosters dialogue between artists, researchers, and communities around pressing ecological, social, and cultural issues. Arraiano offers a distinctive perspective on the role of art in shaping how we understand and engage with a rapidly changing world. Portfolio
Rena Neville is Director of Corinth Consulting Ltd and Head of FCS Compliance Art Division. With over 30 years at Sotheby’s, she was the company’s first Global Compliance Director and previously served as European General Counsel and Global Head of Litigation. Today, she advises the art market on anti-money laundering compliance and is a frequent speaker on the subject, including recent talks at Harvard Law School and the Art Business Conference in Maastricht during TEFAF.
Roxane Zand is a Harvard and Oxford educated specialist in Middle Eastern art and culture. After three years at UNESCO and roles at the Iran Heritage Foundation and Asia House, she joined Sotheby’s in 2006 as Director for the Middle East and Gulf, rising to Deputy Chairman and Senior Director, before stepping down in 2020 to lead her own art advisory consultancy. She continues to serve as Arts Editor for the Encyclopaedia Islamica, advises through the Pictet Art Prize Advisory Council, and has authored several publications, including Geometry and Art: In the Modern Middle East.
Sigrid Kirk is a curator, adviser, and strategist who co-founded the Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA) in 2016. AWITA brings together women working across the arts sector through mentoring, collaboration, and a shared community. In addition, each year Kirk and her husband collaborate with Te Tuhi Gallery in Auckland to help fund an artist residency at Yorkshire Sculpture Park for Māori and Pacific Island artists. The couple are also patrons of Dundee Contemporary Arts,  Fruitmarket Gallery, Gasworks, Studio Voltaire, Iniva, and Goldsmiths CCA.
Sylwia Krason is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Lynx Magazine, an international arts publication and organisation based in London. Since 2013, she has connected bold artistic voices with global audiences, with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe and emerging markets. She is also President of the Contemporary Lynx Foundation in Warsaw and regularly serves as a juror and panel moderator at major international art events, including Art Basel. Trained in art history and arts management in Kraków, Berlin, and London, she is currently based in Paris.
Ulrich Schrauth is a curator, artist, and creative director of UBS Digital Art Museum in Hamburg. Schrauth is also the founder of VRHAM! Biennale, shaping new ways of presenting and experiencing digital Art. Working between Hamburg and London, he also heads the Immersive Programme at the British Film Institute (BFI) and serves on the British Council’s Advisory Board for Arts and Creative Economy. In addition, he curates the digital section of Art Dubai, the premier international art fair for digital media. Ulrich is a jury member for prestigious awards such as the Lumen Prize and the Fedora Digital Art Prize, and is a regular speaker at major events including the Venice Biennale, SXSW, and the Cannes Film Festival. Portfolio

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Felt Memory Pods with Sarah Waters

  • Event

A series of feltmaking workshops exploring memory, wellbeing and our connection to people and place through wool, natural materials and mindful making.

About the Workshop

Felt Memory Pods is a series of artist-led workshops by contemporary textile artist and feltmaker Sarah Waters, exploring how memories, emotions and our relationship with place can be expressed through the ancient craft of feltmaking.

Working with British wool and locally sourced natural materials where possible, participants will learn how raw fibres can be transformed using simple processes involving water, soap and the hands. At the centre of the workshop is the creation of small, tactile 3D felt memory pods, designed to sit within the palm of the hand.

The gentle, rhythmic process of feltmaking provides a starting point for reflection, connection and creative expression. Drawing on Sarah’s longstanding relationship with wool and the landscape, the workshops will encourage participants to consider how materials, memories and places can carry personal meaning.

  • Upcoming Event
  • Dates and location to be announced
  • Part of Tapestry of Voices

The Workshop Journey

Participants will be introduced to Sarah’s artistic practice and the history and qualities of wool before experimenting with the processes involved in transforming fleece into felt.

Through hands-on making, they will develop their own three-dimensional felt pods in response to personal memories, emotions and connections to people or place. Words reflecting how participants feel may be written down and placed inside the finished pods, creating a private layer of memory held within each object.

The workshops are designed to remain open and responsive, allowing the participants themselves to influence the direction and final outcomes of the work.

What Participants Will Explore

  • Feltmaking techniques using British wool and natural materials
  • Memory and storytelling through tactile objects and personal responses
  • Connection to place through materials, landscape and environment
  • Mindful making through the repetitive and rhythmic process of working with wool
  • Sustainability, including wool as a natural, renewable and biodegradable material
  • Creative confidence and connection through making alongside others

No previous experience of feltmaking is required, with the process designed to be tactile, accessible and adaptable to different abilities.

About Sarah Waters

More about the artist

Sarah Waters is a contemporary textile artist and feltmaker whose practice is deeply connected to wool, sheep and the landscape.

Working with felt for almost thirty years, Sarah combines traditional and experimental techniques to explore the layers, rhythms and hidden energies of the natural environment. She is particularly passionate about British wool and works with local and sustainable fleeces wherever possible, highlighting wool’s qualities as a renewable and biodegradable material.

Her practice ranges from intimate tactile objects to large-scale wall hangings, installations and site-responsive works. Alongside her studio practice, Sarah has extensive experience delivering workshops and community projects, sharing feltmaking with people of different ages, backgrounds and abilities.

Her work has been exhibited in the UK and internationally, including the touring exhibition Stone, the Richard Demarco Archive’s Homage to Joseph Beuys at Summerhall in Edinburgh, and Reflections from the Land in 2025.

From the Workshop

Workshops In collaboration with

Creative Health Camden is a pioneering charity supporting arts and community initiatives within Kentish Town Health Centre in North London. They work at the intersection of community, health and the arts to engage individuals with creative and social activities that explore their individual wellbeing.

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PAN Intercultural Arts works across ethnic, cultural and faith boundaries to encourage understanding, integration and empowerment throughout our diverse society. They are driven by a desire to improve the lives of young people within our communities and to bring the healing power of the arts to those who have suffered trauma or social injustice. 

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THIS Project has been awarded funding from Arts Council England 

Join us & Support Creatives

Your donation to Tapestry of Voices directly supports the creation of new sculpture and emerging artists while empowering underrepresented women, young people, and diaspora communities to share their stories. 

By contributing, you help preserve cultural heritage, amplify unheard voices, and ensure these narratives are seen, valued, and carried forward for future generations. 

Learn more about how to get involved here

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