Marbling Artist + Leatherworker

Marbling artist, Rachel O’Connell, is the artist behind ROCWORX®. Marbling is an endangered heritage craft, on the Red List of Endangered Crafts 2023.  Marbling is where inks and paints are placed on the water surface, a pattern is made and then transferred to paper or textiles. 

With over 30 years of marbling experience, Rachel combines traditional tools, heritage-craft techniques and a contemporary design aesthetic, to create cushions, lampshades, silk scarves, marbled leather bags, journals and cases. 

Rachel trained as a leatherworker for upholstery work and began marbling on leather over a decade ago. With a background in interior design and a love for textile art, Rachel combines her heritage skills to create sustainable items for the home and to wear.  

Rachel is a sustainable artist, working to be net zero aligned.  With a zero-waste philosophy, Rachel also has a circular design range, using offcuts from marbled leather to create jewellery, bookmarks, key fobs and cable tidies.  Rachel works with companies like the Royal Opera House, repurposing their theatrical textiles and ballet slippers, saved from landfill, to make small items to be sold, with some of the sales proceeds going to charity.

Rachel has exhibited in Manchester Art Gallery, Dulwich Picture Gallery and MAKE Southwest (formerly Devon Guild).  She has work in small independent shops and galleries in Devon and in The British Museum.

For 2024, Rachel is working on a range of marbled leather bags to be launched at Craftworks for London Craft Week in May 2024.  She is also creating work for a summer exhibition at Thelma Hubbert Gallery and for John Ruskin’s House, Brantwood Museum in the Lake District.