about

b. 1975

Paris, France

Lives in Savannah, GA

Karelle Levy is a contemporary fiber artist whose work delves into the transformative power of textiles, connecting people, places, and ideas. Engaging with various forms such as installation, sculpture, interactive art, performance, and digital knitting technologies, she creates immersive environments that allow audiences to experience fiber as both material and metaphor.

For over three decades, Levy has cultivated a multidisciplinary practice encompassing knitting, crochet, weaving, and textile art innovation. By integrating traditional handcraft techniques with industrial knitting technology, she crafts pieces that blur the lines between fine art, design, architecture, and performance. Many of her installations invite audience participation, transforming viewers into collaborators and highlighting the shared act of making.

A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, with further studies in Experimental Knitwear at Central Saint Martins in London, Levy founded KRELwear in 2004. This internationally recognized knitwear studio has seen collections featured in over one hundred boutiques worldwide. While her fashion background influenced her perception of textiles as sculptural forms, her artistic practice has continually broadened to include large-scale installations, public art, and community-based experiences.

Her ongoing project, The InterKnit, is a perfect representation of this approach. Since its inception in 2017, this evolving participatory installation has traveled to museums, botanical gardens, art fairs, schools, and cultural institutions, inviting thousands to add their own stitches to a growing textile environment. Through this collective making effort, The InterKnit transforms yarn into a living record of human connection.

Levy has displayed her work internationally and created commissions for cultural institutions, municipalities, and private organizations. Her impressive body of work has garnered several accolades, including the Knight Arts Champion Award and a Miami-Dade Artist Grant, along with multiple Best Fashion Designer awards from Miami New Times. Additionally, she has served as a Master Teacher and National Reviewer for YoungArts, mentoring emerging artists and promoting the significance of textile-based practices within contemporary art.

Now residing in Savannah, Georgia, Karelle Levy is establishing a new workshop focused on fiber art, installation, fashion, and experimentation. This studio will function as both a workspace and a laboratory, where traditional textile techniques, digital knitting technologies, and collaborative processes will continue to evolve into new artistic expressions.

Connecting people through learning and crafting is a passion for fiber artist Karelle Levy. Through her brand KRELwear, she brings the world of textile art to life with creations that involve making pom poms, crochet, and knit. This journey culminates in The InterKnit, an ever-expanding installation that morphs and tangles with each new piece added.

Shima Seiki's industrial knitting machine, equipped with Apex 3 programming, is perfect for fiber artists like Karelle Levy, who create stunning pieces under the KRELwear brand alongside traditional handwork in knit and crochet, all contributing to the vibrant world of textile art showcased at The InterKnit.