Freddie Robins

Freddie Robins is a British textile artist based in Essex and London, producing contemporary art works using textile materials and processes. She is renowned for her inventive and provocative use of knitting. Freddie studied Constructed Textiles, specialising in Knitted Textiles, at Middlesex Polytechnic (BA Hons, 1st Class, 1984–1987) and the Royal College of Art, London (MA, 1987–1989). After graduating she worked as a designer, before shifting her practice in 1997 towards knitted textile artworks and receiving a Crafts Council Setting Up Award in 1998. Her practice crosses the categories of art, craft and design, finding knitting to be a powerful medium for self-expression and communication because of the cultural preconceptions that surround it. Her work explores pertinent contemporary issues of feminism and the human condition, questioning conformity and notions of normality. Freddie is Professor of Textiles and Interim co-Head of Textiles at the Royal College of Art, where she has taught since 2001. In 2025 she was the Stephen E. Ostrow Distinguished Visitor in the Visual Arts, Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College, Portland, Oregon, USA. Her work is held in public collections including the Government Art Collection, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Crafts Council, Nottingham Castle Museum, Aberdeen Art Gallery and KODE Bergen, Norway.