Celia Pym
SOCKS imaginative mending
SOCKS imaginative mending
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Celia Pym is an artist darner. The book is based on the exhibition commissioned by NOW Gallery, Greenwich Socks: The Art of Care and Repair.
SOCKS celebrates the everyday act of mending socks through darning. An illustrated account of what happens when you teach a whole primary school how to darn a sock. Central to the book is a vibrant, colourful library of 488 socks, each stitched and darned by the Surrey Square Primary School community in Southwark using industry ‘warehouse’ waste socks. Children, staff and families of the school, learnt and practised their darning and stitching skills on socks, during a series of 26 workshops facilitated by Pym in early 2024.
The progression of the work from nursery to year 6 aged children to the headteacher, beautifully demonstrates the dexterity and creativity of the children and how that changes over time, highlighting the importance of practical education for cognitive development.
SOCKS also includes Pym’s own work mending socks for friends and family. Celia is a prominent artist and teacher, exhibiting and teaching internationally and her London workshops sell out within minutes. Her previous book On Mending: Stories of damage and repair is one of our best sellers.
Published 2 February 2026, available to preorder, delivery in November. Sign up to the Quickthorn newsletter for information about launches and events.
Shipping & Returns
Shipping & Returns
We post our books in plastic free materials using Royal Mail. Please allow 5 days for delivery (though most will come sooner than that).
It’s only me, so please be patient. If I’m away I’ll post that online 😎 and there may be a hiatus.
Local pick up in Stroud: free
UK: £3.99
Europe: £12.00
US and Canada: £15
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ISBN: 9781068321535
Published: February 2026
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Let customers speak for us
from 34 reviewsIt’s a lovely book with many perspectives into the flowering of artist blacksmithing over the last 50 years, highlighting the role of the remarkable Alan Evans.
I enjoyed the very fast and transparent Royal mailing process— it beat the time of much within-US mail!
V good prompt service
Well presented book, bought it to post to a friend overseas as you don’t seem to deliver outwith the uk
i find this book a jewel! i am in love with it, with the content and it is so well explained! just magnificent! Thanks a lot
Great book beautifully illustrated
excellent & inspirational book
Loved the heritage wooden darning mushroom! Now I need to go an do some Darning, not just admire the wood!
This book really does seem to encapsulate everything important about people, making and education. I absolutely love its easy-to-read format and it is chock full of gorgeous projects and photographs. Intelligent Hands has been super-informative and has inspired me to get on and use my own! I highly recommend this beautiful book.
This is an excellent book on the most important textile project of our times. The texts are engaging and interesting, and the pictures are lovely. The overall layout is gorgeous. A real treasure on my bookshelves!
Lovely book, beautifully made
Love this book wanted in hardcover and will continue to check. Its a keepsake! Amazing story about this dress and the women who helped create it!
Wonderful pictures. Great content.
An incredible accounting of a heartfelt and deeply impactful endeavor. I was captivated by the brilliance and evolution of the project, as well as the bridges being built by making space for women to come together and tell their stories. The journey is wonderful to witness and the power of what Kirstie and all who joined her have created will stay with me forever.
I really enjoyed reading the book!
Very inspiring initiative and impressive result!
It's divine work from around the world with all the hands, the vibrations, the energy and the attention put on a single dress. It makes it a witness of an era... A legacy... A piece of history in stitches...
My dear friend did a similarly initiative for me, on a much smaller scale, when I was at the hospital. She created a quilt, with women in the communities around the Island where I live on Prince Edward Island, Canada.
It's magical work to come together to create, to sew and stitch. The result can only be divine!
Amazing and humbling work with the Red dress.
Celia Pym
The artist Celia Pym has been exploring damage and repair in textiles since 2007.