Cat Rabbit is a Melbourne-based textile artist and designer known for plush sculptural works, felt characters, and children’s books. Her practice turns soft materials into imagined beings and the worlds they inhabit, often with a handmade look that keeps stitching, stuffing, and fabric choices visible rather than hidden. She also collaborates with Isobel Knowles under the name Soft Stories.
| What | Textile artist and designer |
|---|---|
| Base | Melbourne, Australia |
| Known for | Plush sculptural characters, felt works, children’s books |
| Collaborative practice | Soft Stories, with Isobel Knowles |
| Materials | Felt, fabric, stuffing, thread, bookmaking materials |
What does Cat Rabbit make?
Cat Rabbit makes soft sculptures that sit between toy, character, and artwork. Many pieces begin as imagined figures: animals, little creatures, and dreamlike companions with rounded forms and carefully shaped details. Felt appears often, alongside stitched fabric, stuffing, embroidery, and other textile techniques that give the work its tactile, made-by-hand character.
The result is not flat illustration translated into cloth. The forms have presence as objects. Seams, edges, and surface textures matter, because they carry the evidence of construction. That handmade finish is central to the appeal of the work and to the way it communicates personality without relying on realism.
Where did her practice come from?
Cat Rabbit’s practice grows out of textile art and designerly object-making, with a strong connection to storytelling. Melbourne has a lively independent craft and illustration culture, and her work sits comfortably within that world: small-scale, material-led, and built around repeatable characters rather than one-off spectacle. The emphasis on plush form also connects to traditions of soft sculpture and handcrafted toys, where fabric becomes a way to build fictional bodies.
The artist’s own description points to an interest in “imagined characters and the worlds they might live in.” That world-building matters. The figures are not only cute or decorative; they imply a setting, a mood, and a narrative. Books extend that impulse further, giving the characters a sequence, a plot, or a domestic universe to inhabit.
Why does her work matter?
Cat Rabbit’s work matters because it treats softness as a serious visual language. Felt, stuffing, and stitching are often associated with domestic craft or children’s play, but her practice uses them to build authored, concept-driven artworks. The material choices are not incidental. They shape meaning by making the work approachable, tactile, and emotionally legible at a glance.
Her work also sits at a useful intersection of art, design, and publishing. Plush figures become characters; characters become books; books become a way to carry a visual world into print. That movement across media is part of what makes the practice notable in contemporary craft and illustration circles, especially where handmade production and independent publishing overlap.
What is Soft Stories?
Soft Stories is Cat Rabbit’s collaborative project with Isobel Knowles. Under that name, the pair make books for children and other fantastical artworks, combining illustration, text, object-making, and textile sensibility. Collaboration lets the work expand beyond a single maker’s studio output into shared narratives and more complex forms of storytelling.
The name also signals the tone of the practice: gentle, handmade, and imaginative, but not simplistic. Soft Stories suggests that softness can hold structure, character, and narrative weight. In practical terms, that can mean books with invented creatures, crafted scenes, or visual worlds that feel as carefully built as the objects in Cat Rabbit’s solo practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cat Rabbit mainly a textile artist or an illustrator?
She is best described as a textile artist and designer, though her work overlaps with illustration and bookmaking. The core of the practice is object-based: plush figures, felt forms, and sculptural characters made from fabric and thread. Those objects often lead into books and printed storytelling.
What materials are most associated with her work?
Felt is one of the most visible materials in her practice, along with fabric, stuffing, thread, and embroidery. These materials create the soft volume and hand-finished surfaces that define her characters. They also keep the making process legible, which is part of the work’s appeal.
Why do her characters feel so narrative?
Because they are built as inhabitants of imagined worlds, not just standalone figures. Their shapes, expressions, and accessories often suggest relationships, habits, or roles. That narrative quality becomes even clearer in her children’s books and in the collaborative work made as Soft Stories.