Get weaving

A huge, wooden loom dominates the front room in Jacqueline James' terraced house. Bright-coloured yarns of every shade are crammed into the alcove shelves, where most of us would store books and CDs. So tight is the space, that Jacqueline has to carefully inch her way around the loom to find the seating position by the window. There, she sets about showing me how she prepares the loom for her next rug.

Hundreds of what looks like white pieces of string are stretched up, over, down and across the light-wood frame, in anticipation for the next work of art.

It can take Jacqueline a day just to set up the loom for weaving and between one to two weeks to complete a rug.

The 38 year old has been running her one-woman weaving business for 11 years, and has won several awards and completed many prestigious commissions, including two for Westminster Abbey and one for York Minster.

Tomorrow, she will be rubbing shoulders with leading female achievers from Britain and beyond at the prestigious invite-only Women Of The Year Lunch in London.

It's a remarkable career record by any standards, but it's all the more remarkable because Jacqueline has very limited sight. Blinded with cataracts at birth, she underwent a series of pioneering operations, which left her with no vision in her left eye, but ten per cent vision in her right.

She sees the world in patterns and colours, and has to get up close to fill in the detail.

When we meet, she says she can see me, but moves closer - just a few inches from my face - before telling me I have blue eyes.

Keen to be judged as an artist above anything else, Jacqueline tends to play down her impairment.

She rarely mentions it in her professional life, pointing out most clients only realise when she has to read something and holds the piece of paper just an inch or so from her right eye. Trying to explain how she sees the world around her, Jacqueline says she relies heavily on her memory, where she stores the things she sees up close, ready to be recalled when necessary.

Common sense plays a big part too.

"If I am going by a field, I can't tell what the animals are, but if I see brown I know it's either a horse or a cow. I know it's not going to be a zebra," she laughs.

Photographs are a vital tool, she adds. "I take photographs which capture the things I can't see until I look really close. I once took a picture by the sea, but didn't realise there was a boat in it until I got the film back from the developers."

Jacqueline's style is abstract: relying on colour and shape. The way in which she sees the world is ideally suited to this kind of art.

"I am inspired when I walk out the door. Everything I look at will go into my mind and be processed.

"I enjoy seeing different patterns such as the way the bricks are laid, or the beams in a building.

"Being trained as a visual artist, I think any artist will do that: that's how we are taught. You will analyse what you see, you bring it down to basics.

"I see the basics because I don't see the details. I've abstracted it by seeing it - it's more helpful in the point of view of doing my design work."

Although born in Britain, Jacqueline grew up in the United States. She caught the travel bug and ended up settling in York in 1982, where she has some relatives: aunt and uncle Rena and Derek Boorman of Dunnington.

After studying textile design at Harrogate College of Art, Jacqueline undertook some business courses then set up her weaving venture: a veritable cottage industry from her two-up, two-down near Clifton Green.

The pinnacle of her career so far was winning the Frink Award for Achievement at the Women Of The Year luncheon in 1993.

As a past winner, she has been invited to this year's lunch at the capital's Caf Royal tomorrow, when the guest speaker will be Valentina Tereshkova, the Russian cosmonaut who was the first woman in space.

"It's a great day out. This is the third time I've been invited to the lunch - I wish they'd invite me every year, but only 500 guests are invited from 2000 nominees.

"Most of the guests are really interesting women, and there are celebrities too. Last time, I met the first woman to fly Concorde, but there are women from all walks of life: fireman and nurses.

"I tend to shy away from the celebrities, but Esther Rantzen, Victoria Wood, Maureen Lipman and Joan Armatrading have all been there."

Not content to rest on her success, Jacqueline has ambitions to become more well known and secure an entry in the Craft's Council's select list of recommended makers.

Weaving is her life: her profession and her passion. When I ask what she does in her spare time, she laughs and says: "It tends to be textile-related.

"I do research into other countries, as I'm interested in anthropology and I read weaving or art magazines."

A latest hobby is the Internet, which has enabled Jacqueline to hook up with weavers across the world.

It all helps her believe that despite the thinness of professional weavers on the ground, the craft is still very much alive.

"There are lots of weaving guilds in the UK, the US and in Europe. With the Internet, I'm able to network with a lot of these people and enhance my life."

Jacqueline accepts individual commissions, with prices ranging from £300-£600 for a standard-sized rug. For details ring 01904 621381.