Before starting Touch Grass Textiles in early 2026, I spent 15+ years designing digital products and experiences as the VP of Product Design for various tech startups.

Touch Grass tools are made the same way I've always designed things: find the gap, figure out what should exist, make it, then keep making it even better.

The Swatch Loom came out of my fear of commitment (put up a whole warp without being sure about the colors?! no thanks), and my hard-won knitting instincts to always swatch before casting on.

So, I started with cutting out a 2x2” square of cardboard, and graduated to 3D-printed two-inch looms in the three dent sizes I use across my rigid heddle and floor loom. Now, our extra bedroom is a full blown 3D printing HQ, focused on designing tools that make sampling, patching, and weaving tiny things delightful.

Touch Grass Textiles is increasingly a two-person operation. My partner CJ is the engineering brain, making sure everything that gets printed is structurally sound and the details are perfectly ironed. He is in charge of the math – which should make us all feel better – freeing me up to touch as much yarn as possible.

In the end, it's all so I can make more and better textiles. I'm most inspired by the palettes of landscapes I keep returning to: the high deserts of New Mexico and West Texas, the layered canyons of the Southwest, and increasingly the rolling mountains of Appalachia. Each textile ships with a small print of the landscape it came from, shot by me. A little piece of something worth remembering, alongside an heirloom-worthy textile.

Live in the Triangle? Find us at an event or come weave outside with us sometime.

Sharon Brener