Touched By Salt

Susie Hughes is a fibre textile artist working from her home studio in Crescent Head, Australia. She creates hand-felted artworks using natural, ethically sourced fibres, including silk, merino, alpaca, angora, and flax. These materials—selected for their variation in texture, lustre and softness—form the foundation of her layered compositions.

Susie's practice centres on capturing the inner beauty of the natural environment. Influenced by both coastal and botanical forms, her work draws on a deep connection to the ocean. Through careful placement of fibre, tone and texture, she builds nuanced surfaces that explore shifting forms and subtle perspectives.

Using traditional felting techniques, Susie transforms loose fibre into unified textile surfaces through a slow, tactile process. This intuitive method allows the work to emerge gradually, informed by technique, balance, and material response. Her artworks bring a sense of calm, warmth and softness to architectural spaces. The organic nature of Susie's textiles serves not only as a visual reflection, but as a quiet call to appreciate and care for the living environment that inspires them.

Susie spent 17 years teaching art and textiles to children in Byron Bay, Sydney and Bali, both privately and in schools that embraced creativity as part of the learning process. During this time, she continued her own artistic development across a range of mediums through short courses with working with mentors. Following her passion for textiles she now focuses solely on creating contemporary fibre art through felt-making.

Susie also works part-time in the field of human rights, and alongside her creative practice, enjoys life by the ocean, where surfing, sailing and meditation are an integral part of her lifestyle.