BUILD YOUR OWN with Kangan Arora
Kangan Arora is a London-based textile artist and designer whose work explores colour, geometry, and the culture of the everyday. Her practice moves fluidly between art and design; from large-scale installations like the Exchange House tapestries in London and The Beacon Feature Curtain for Bradford 2025, to collaborations with Tate Gallery, IKEA, and Floor_Story.
What kind of designer are you?
“I’m a designer who likes making and process, always with a big focus on colour. I have to physically work with materials: screen-printing, collaging, cutting, stitching, for it to come together for me. I’m a strong advocate of thinking through making, and I use this approach no matter what the outcome is: rugs, art installations, tapestries.”
You picked the A201//WIDE WEB.SMALL.RECTANGLE BASKET SLING, why?
“I’ve carried around one of your basket weave laptop cases since 2019 and I love it so much, so I jumped at the chance of adding the basket bag to my day-to-day as a small sling bag. It’s the perfect size to carry everyday essentials. I also really enjoyed how the ‘build your bag’ gave me an opportunity to put some colours together which is my favourite pastime.”
What was the last thing you made or repaired?
“A range of textile works for an exhibition called Conversations in Colour that I curated with my friend Caitlin Hinselwood. These started as little colour studies with found fabric and were realised as one-off quilts and wall hangings inspired by kites.”
What is your favourite tool?
“My Japanese circle cutter that doesn’t leave a point. It’s meant for paper — I ruined one trying fabric! But it’s very therapeutic. Sometimes I just sit and cut circles out of paper. I use a lot of geometry in my work, and this tool gives perfect circles without the little pinhole you get from a compass. I found it in Japan when I was running a workshop at the Tokyo Design Lab — they had the most amazing stationery shop. I still use it now.”
What do you put in your bag on an average day?
“Keys, glasses case, phone, wallet, pen and a little notebook.”
