Ulla Johnson: My mom and I are very shut. She was an archaeologist and a painter but additionally a textile junkie. Across the time I used to be pregnant with my third youngster — my daughter, Agnes, who’s now 10 — my mom moved out of the 900-square-foot Manhattan condo the place I’d grown up. As I helped filter out the collections of textiles and embroideries she’d gathered over a lifetime, my path grew to become clear: I’d at all times been meant to supply handmade issues. When Agnes was two months previous, I traveled along with her to Peru to study knitting and weaving. We went to a small city north of Cuzco the place I ended up working with a neighborhood of girls, lots of whom additionally had their infants with them. We held one another’s youngsters, they usually confirmed me the issues they have been doing.

I’ve at all times used my designs to see myself extra really, and I really feel that Raven does that with the written phrase. In her novel [2020’s “Luster”], she talks in regards to the messiness of being human, the need to be seen and to see your self. The story is about unlikely allegiances between ladies, and that informs my work, too. I used to be 24 years previous once I began this enterprise. On the time, quick trend was exploding; as a substitute, I selected to work within the language of handicraft, which is extremely sluggish and adheres to no schedules. All these items that have been counterintuitive ended up actually serving to me discover my voice.

Raven Leilani: My mother was a seamstress. She made a lot of what I wore as a lady, so a number of my first experiences with artistry have been via garments. I do know that when Ulla makes her items, there’s a profound stage of care in her craft. And that’s what it’s at all times about for me: being rigorous with the phrases I select.

A lot of making issues will not be figuring out. A lot of writing feels such as you’re being catapulted ahead and also you’re like, “God, I hope this works.” A method I get via doubt is figuring out that there’s one thing new on the opposite facet of it.

I’ve been instructing for a few years now, and I at all times really feel fed once I’m in a room with different artists, particularly those that are receptive to the ebb and stream of that inventive monster. I attempt to do for them what my lecturers did for me, which is to see what they’re making an attempt — and to assist them make that one factor on their phrases.

Interviews have been edited and condensed.