Kaffe Fassett has dedicated more than 50 years to the worlds of knitting, needlepoint, and patchwork, championing these crafts through his own work and inspiring others to explore creativity through color and design. He has produced over 60 publications, ranging from instructional “how-to” books to explorations of color in design, and continues to tour internationally, presenting workshops, lectures, and museum exhibitions.

Born in San Francisco in 1937, Kaffe Fassett began his career as a fine artist. At nineteen, he won a scholarship to study at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, though he left after three months to pursue painting in London—a practice he continues to this day.

After settling in England in 1964, his passion for color led him to knitting. Kaffe’s journey into knitting began during a visit to a Scottish wool mill with fashion designer Bill Gibb. Inspired by the colors of the landscape and discovering those same hues reflected in yarn, he purchased twenty colors of Shetland wool and a pair of knitting needles. On the train back to London, a fellow passenger taught him how to knit. His first design was soon featured as a full-page spread in Vogue Knitting magazine.

In 1969, Kaffe was commissioned to design a garment for a major color feature in British Vogue, photographed by David Bailey. This led to his collaboration with Missoni in the 1970s, where he designed textile knitwear patterns in Italy that were sold worldwide.

Kaffe’s richly colored, complex knitwear became a defining element of Scottish designer Bill Gibb’s work. In 1970, Vogue editor Beatrix Miller selected one of Gibb’s designs—featuring a Fassett hand-knitted waistcoat—as the Dress of the Year, marking a turning point in which traditional textile crafts were embraced by mainstream fashion. Fassett and Gibb continued to collaborate until Gibb’s final collection in 1985.

His distinctive garments have been commissioned and collected by figures including Barbra Streisand, Lauren Bacall, Ali MacGraw, Shirley MacLaine, Helen Frankenthaler, and H.R.H. Princess Michael of Kent, among many others. His hand-knitted garments are now held in museum collections around the world. He later expanded his practice to needlepoint and patchwork, creating both original works and designs for others to make.

Kaffe has been interviewed extensively on national television and radio, appearing on programs including Richard and Judy, This Morning, Chelsea Flower Show Live, Through the Keyhole, and BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and Desert Island Discs.

He has participated in numerous exhibitions and solo shows throughout his career, most notably in 1988 when he became the first living textile artist to present a solo exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The exhibition was so popular that museum attendance doubled during its run, and it went on to tour nine countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and across Europe—drawing audiences that, in Iceland alone, represented five percent of the nation’s population.