What Is a Memorial Quilt? An Interview with Lori Mason

Today SevenPonds speaks with Lori Mason of Lori Mason Design in Portland, Oregon. Lori is a fabric and textile artist who creates custom quilts, often for those who wish to commemorate an event or memorialize a loved one’s life. She uses the clothing of the loved one who has passed on to create unique, meaningful pieces.

Lori Mason.
(credit: Bolt Neighborhood)

MaryFrances: How did Lori Mason Design begin?

Lori: I started out in the arts and crafts medium. And then I went to New York for a year and came back and worked for Nike in the late 90s, designing prints and textiles for apparel. After about three years, I realized I wasn’t corporate material [laughs] but an artist.

I wanted to make quilts when I thought, ‘What do I really, really want to do?’ Time is precious, and the two things I realized were: I wanted to reconnect with print design, but also focus on this idea of mind of a memorial quilt.

MaryFrances: Were you inspired by a personal experience with loss?

Lori: I had a very close friend in college whose father died in what I think was our last year. He lived in LA, was a lawyer there and had been married three times since her mother. The only thing she really felt she had of him was this bag of teck ties. So a couple years later, I made her a quilt out of them. I thought, ‘Wow, this is really something that can make an impact, something I can offer people.’ Then my grandmother died, and I was very close to her. We were wondering what to do with her clothes, and after the construction of a memorial quilt – I ended up making four actually—I realized the experience of having touched and worked with her clothes like that was such a powerful experience. Now, I feel like [the quilt is] a reminder to relatives that they can go to a place and breathe beside her. A connector.

MaryFrances: How do you better understand your client’s loss/needs?

Lori: I try to be very open about asking about how their loved one died. I try to be very direct but aware.

Lori’s 3 Grieving Tips:

1) Let the grief come.
2) Realize society’s not very patient with the grieving process, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be.
3) Grief is physical too. Listen to your body.

MaryFrances: How do clients feel when they receive the finished quilt?

A close up of “Ronny’s Ties”
Ronny had a great sense of humor. This quilt was made from his lifelong tie collection.
-Lori Mason
(credit: Lori Mason Design)

Lori: It is something very powerful. And I hear from people after they receive the quilt, open the box – I always want to hear back from them – and they tell me a kind of story about where they’re going to hang it, of how everybody [in the family] is so moved. Sometimes they open it in a large gathering, but sometimes it’s just an intimate moment with a mother or father. It’s so personal – grieving is so personal.

MaryFrances: If you weren’t working with fabric, what medium would you pick?

Lori: I don’t think I can disconnect myself from my love of textiles [laughs] and of clothing, in particular. It’s so visceral because it touches that person. [The connection] is immediate. It made up a part of their personality, of what we saw in them everyday.

MaryFrances: How long does it usually take to make a quilt?

Lori: It generally takes 12-15 weeks. It’s a very time-consuming process. I receive the fabrics. I have to think about what kinds of colors and patterns can go together.

MaryFrances: I imagine you have families coming to you, saying, ‘We want this kind of design’ and that you have to work carefully within your ability and their vision to execute what they’re imagining. Do you feel a need to know a bit about the person the quilt is being made to commemorate?

Lori: I like to hear about what that person was like, to have that conversation where I learn about what they were like, their passions, etc. You learn about what was important to them. Sometimes a feeling about someone doesn’t visually translate with ease. Not at first. But I always have that motivation in the back of my mind, always working. I come into the studio; I light a candle and I sit there for a minute and just meditate a bit on that person.

“Eva in New York” by Lori Mason.
Eva made a statement wherever she went. This quilt is made from wildly printed couture clothing that Eva bought over the years on New York’s 5th Avenue.
-Lori Mason
(credit: Lori Mason Design)

[Consider] the quilt, ” Richard’s Conversation.” It’s made for a man who owned a hotel and just loved chatting with people. He would wear a different tie every day as a sort of conversation starter. I made the squares completely different with the various ties.

MaryFrances: Have you ever gotten a really odd or difficult piece to work with?

Lori: No, nothing really odd. But the really stretchy fabrics are difficult. It mostly depends on materials that can get crazy. I think I got a knit pantsuit once.

MaryFrances: Thanks so much, Lori.

Lori: Thank you.

Watch this video to learn more from Lori about her quilts.

You may enjoy:

• Passage Quilting: “Remembering, celebrating, honoring relationships” through unique quilts
• The Bead Quilt: A collaborative art piece cherishes loved ones lost on September 11th
• What is the Art of the Dying? An Interview with Deidre Scherer: The fabric and thread artist who captures the journey of the dying process