Saturday 14 November
1:30pm - 3:30pm
£65. Book onto Rachel O’Connell’s morning course too, and pay £120 for both (discount automatically added at check out).
The Workshop
Learn the art of Suminagashi, an ancient and endangered heritage craft originating in Japan in the 8th century. You’ll watch tutor demonstrations for each pattern and technique, marbling onto a variety of papers, card and fabric.
You’ll gain an understanding of different paper types and weights, as well as how colour influences pattern. Using this knowledge, you’ll create your own gift wrap and a silk scarf.
All materials, gloves and aprons are provided. Please wear older clothes as dyes may stain.
The Artist
Rachel O’Connell is a multi-media, sustainable marbling artist, leatherworker and educator, with over 35 years’ marbling experience, who has exhibited in national museums and galleries, such as The British Museum, Manchester Art Gallery, Dulwich Picture Gallery and Brantwood Museum (John Ruskin).
Her Suminagashi ink marbling surface patterns were selected by the interior design team for Grand Designs Live 2026 exhibitions at exCel London and NEC Birmingham.
Marbling is an endangered heritage craft, a surface pattern created using ink or paint flicked on water. Rachel marbles on paper, clay, wood, and textiles, including leather, to showcase the diversity of this surface pattern.
She creates books, paper art, home décor including lampshades, cushions and hand marbled wallpaper panels, as well as wearable art, leather goods and jewellery.
As a sustainable maker, she repurposes paper received from tea companies and theatrical textiles from ballet companies and theatres in London , to create jewellery, accessories, and paper art, with proceeds going to the food poverty charity, Trussell UK.
Rachel tutors marbling, bookbinding and leatherwork at West Dean Art College, The National Trust Heritage and Rural Skills Centre, Oxford Summer School and in galleries, schools, colleges, universities, craft events and community groups. She also runs small, focused classes in her own studio in rural South Devon.
The Setting
This workshop takes place at Atelier Beside the Sea, an arts venue set within three of Brighton’s iconic King’s Road Arches between the Palace and West Piers. It offers a vibrant programme of art and craft designed to inspire both locals and visitors.
Saturday 14 November
1:30pm - 3:30pm
£65. Book onto Rachel O’Connell’s morning course too, and pay £120 for both (discount automatically added at check out).
The Workshop
Learn the art of Suminagashi, an ancient and endangered heritage craft originating in Japan in the 8th century. You’ll watch tutor demonstrations for each pattern and technique, marbling onto a variety of papers, card and fabric.
You’ll gain an understanding of different paper types and weights, as well as how colour influences pattern. Using this knowledge, you’ll create your own gift wrap and a silk scarf.
All materials, gloves and aprons are provided. Please wear older clothes as dyes may stain.
The Artist
Rachel O’Connell is a multi-media, sustainable marbling artist, leatherworker and educator, with over 35 years’ marbling experience, who has exhibited in national museums and galleries, such as The British Museum, Manchester Art Gallery, Dulwich Picture Gallery and Brantwood Museum (John Ruskin).
Her Suminagashi ink marbling surface patterns were selected by the interior design team for Grand Designs Live 2026 exhibitions at exCel London and NEC Birmingham.
Marbling is an endangered heritage craft, a surface pattern created using ink or paint flicked on water. Rachel marbles on paper, clay, wood, and textiles, including leather, to showcase the diversity of this surface pattern.
She creates books, paper art, home décor including lampshades, cushions and hand marbled wallpaper panels, as well as wearable art, leather goods and jewellery.
As a sustainable maker, she repurposes paper received from tea companies and theatrical textiles from ballet companies and theatres in London , to create jewellery, accessories, and paper art, with proceeds going to the food poverty charity, Trussell UK.
Rachel tutors marbling, bookbinding and leatherwork at West Dean Art College, The National Trust Heritage and Rural Skills Centre, Oxford Summer School and in galleries, schools, colleges, universities, craft events and community groups. She also runs small, focused classes in her own studio in rural South Devon.
The Setting
This workshop takes place at Atelier Beside the Sea, an arts venue set within three of Brighton’s iconic King’s Road Arches between the Palace and West Piers. It offers a vibrant programme of art and craft designed to inspire both locals and visitors.
