Artist-Designed Silk Scarves: 25 Art Scarves by Named Artists, and Who Makes Them (2026)

An artist-designed silk scarf is one where a named artist made the original artwork and the seller says so on the product page. We found 25 that pass that test, checked on each seller’s own site on 17 October 2026: 15 from artists’ own labels, 3 from labels that commission artists, 6 from museum shops and 1 hand-painted one-off. They cost $65 to $845, and the museum pieces £85 to £120 or $98 to $145.

Most scarves sold as “art” don’t name anyone. “Original designs by master artists” or “designed by our art house” tells you nothing about who drew it, so those scarves aren’t here, and neither are the ones that turned out to be modal rather than silk. We left out 32 that failed, and say why below.

The Kanso Collective sells Aubrey Kurlansky’s scarves, and he is one of its co-founders. Every other scarf here is described from its seller’s own page, checked 17 October 2026.

The short answer

Scarf	Artist	Price	Size	Fabric
Karen Mabon	Karen Mabon	$164 (£120)	90 cm	100% silk
Sabina Savage	Sabina Savage	$415 (£275)	90 cm	silk twill
Emily Carter London	Emily Carter	$264 (£195)	90 cm	silk twill
Emma J Shipley	Emma J Shipley	$218 (£135)	66 cm	silk twill
Silken Favours	Vicki Murdoch	$245 (£180)	90 cm	crepe de chine
Aubrey Kurlansky, sold by us	Aubrey Kurlansky	$219 (£169)	90 cm	18 momme silk twill
Oksana Johnson	Oksana Johnson	$250 (£194)	90 cm	silk twill
Kehinde Wiley Shop	Kehinde Wiley	$245 ($175 on sale)	91 cm	silk twill
Jessie Zhao New York	Jessie Zhao	$149	89 cm	100% silk
CB Grey	Courtney Buchanan	$160 (£124)	90 cm	silk twill
C. MONET	Cierra Monet	$175 (£134)	91 cm	100% silk
Teascarf Brooklyn	Reed Slater	$175	132 cm	silk chiffon
Isabelle Gougenheim (bandana)	Isabelle Gougenheim	$65	53 cm	silk twill
Marko Stout	Marko Stout	$845	115 cm	silk twill
Glyph Collective	Ana Ifanger	$87 (£65)	90 cm	silk twill
Elmira Originals (hand-painted)	Elmira Khazraei	$286 (£215)	90 cm	100% silk
Massif Central	Katherine Bradford	$500	130 × 150 cm	silk twill
Alba Amicorum	Man Ray (Man Ray Trust)	$544 (£480)	90 cm	100% silk
DESEDA	Kasia Niemczynska	$180	132 cm	silk twill
Tate Shop	Grayson Perry	£120	91 × 88 cm	100% silk
British Museum Shop	Grayson Perry	£85	90 cm	100% silk
Royal Academy Shop	Barbara Rae	£95 (was £125)	90 cm	100% silk
MoMA Design Store	Jeffrey Gibson	$125	89 cm	silk twill
SFMOMA Museum Store	Ayca Kilicoglu	$145	91 cm	100% silk
The Met Store	Romare Bearden	$98	183 × 56 cm	silk twill

Sizes given in inches on the seller’s page are converted by us. Prices in brackets are the seller’s own UK price.

What the pages tell you, and what they don’t

Every one of the 25 pages states the size and the fabric; that was our bar for inclusion. Beyond that, 17 say how the hem is finished, 15 say where the scarf is made, and only 5 say whether it’s printed on one side or both. Two state all three: DESEDA’s and Aubrey Kurlansky’s, the one we sell.

If the page doesn’t name the artist, it isn’t an artist scarf. Most scarves sold as “art” name no one.

Artists with their own scarf labels

UK artists

Karen Mabon’s scarf is “original artwork by Karen Mabon, designed in London”, 90 cm, hand-rolled and made in Como, $164 (£120). Sabina Savage is “a British artist and designer known for her exquisite, hand-rendered illustrations”; her 90 cm silk twill is made in England, $415 (£275). Emily Carter “illustrates each of her scarves and prints entirely by hand with pen and paper”, hand-rolled and printed in England, $264 (£195). Emma J Shipley’s designs are “hand-drawn in pencil, before being intricately digitally coloured”; the 66 cm Drakon is $218 (£135), on pre-order when we checked. Silken Favours, founded by Vicki Murdoch, starts each design as “an original illustration”; 90 cm crepe de chine, made in Britain, $245 (£180).

US artists

Oksana Johnson prints a 90 cm silk twill “preserving the light and movement of Oksana’s original painting”, made by artisans in the Lake Como region, $250 (£194). The Kehinde Wiley Shop prints his 2005 Equestrian Portrait of the Count-Duke Olivares on both sides of Italian silk twill, $245, on sale at $175 when we checked. Jessie Zhao’s prints are “original and hand-illustrated”; this one is double-sided and hand-rolled, $149.

CB Grey, founded in Atlanta in 2020 by “designer and artist Courtney Buchanan”, sells hand-rolled 90 cm silk twill for $160. C. MONET prints Cierra Monet’s canvases on 91 cm silk, “one richly pigmented side and one opaque reverse”, $175. Teascarf Brooklyn reproduces Reed Slater’s artworks of “tea steeped, arranged, and dried by hand on paper” on 132 cm silk chiffon, $175. Isabelle Gougenheim’s 53 cm silk twill bandana is “created from Isabelle Gougenheim’s original painting”, $65; the label’s large scarves are 85% modal, so they’re not on this list. Marko Stout’s 115 cm silk twill, “designed in New York, woven in Italy, produced in England”, is the most expensive here at $845.

Further afield

A woman in a pink shirt with a teal and pink silk scarf around her neck, its ends hanging long — Aubrey Kurlansky’s A Kaleidoscope in the Cathedral, from his photograph of the Sagrada Família.

Aubrey Kurlansky is a Bangkok artist who spent years designing interiors for luxury hotels in Singapore and Bangkok. Every design starts as his own drawing, photograph or digital artwork, and his signature is printed in it. His 90 cm squares are 18 momme silk twill woven in China, printed on both sides with hand-rolled hems, $219 (£169); The Kanso Collective sells them in the US and UK. Each is a limited edition, never mass produced: made to order in collaboration with the artist and finished by hand.

Glyph Collective, designed in Singapore, makes “wearable art created from an original artwork by Ana Ifanger”: hand-rolled 90 cm silk twill for $87 (£65), the cheapest full square here. And Elmira Originals in Düsseldorf is the one hand-painted maker on the list: “one-of-one artwork, not a print”, 90 cm silk, $286 (£215).

Labels that commission artists

Commissioning artists for silk is an old idea: Zika Ascher was asking painters and sculptors for squares in 1945 (see our history of the printed silk scarf). Massif Central in New York “produces silk and silk-blend scarves by contemporary artists”; Katherine Bradford’s Superheroes is 130 × 150 cm silk twill with hand-sewn hems, $500. Check each piece’s fabric line: some of its scarves are silk blends, and several of its best-known artist pieces were sold out when we checked. Alba Amicorum works with the Man Ray Trust on a 90 cm silk square of his solarized portrait of Natacha, made in Italy, $544 (£480). DESEDA prints Kasia Niemczynska’s hand-illustrated zebras and irises on both sides of a 132 cm silk twill, printed in Italy, $180.

Museum shops: commissions and reproductions

Museum scarves come in two kinds. Some are new designs commissioned from living artists: Grayson Perry’s scarf “exclusively for Tate” (£120) and his map scarf at the British Museum (£85), Barbara Rae’s Dark Signs at the Royal Academy (£95), and Ayca Kilicoglu’s Matisse-inspired scarf for SFMOMA ($145). Others reproduce a work in the collection: Jeffrey Gibson’s 2019 KNOW YOU’RE MAGICK, BABY at MoMA ($125, though its page gives two different sizes) and Romare Bearden’s The Block at the Met ($98).

Museum shops sell plenty of scarves that aren’t silk. The V&A’s Man Ray and May Morris scarves are 100% modal, and some SFMOMA colourways are cotton and silk, so read the fabric line before you buy.

How to tell a real artist scarf

A pencil sketch of banana leaves on cream paper — From sketch to silk: Aubrey Kurlansky’s pencil drawing of banana leaves, and the pattern it became.

The banana leaves mirrored and coloured into a jade and pink pattern — From sketch to silk: Aubrey Kurlansky’s pencil drawing of banana leaves, and the pattern it became.

The artist is named on the product page, ideally with the artwork. “Designed by our studio” or “original designs by master artists” isn’t a credit.
The fabric says 100% silk. Several scarves sold as art are modal or modal-silk blends.
The size, hem and print are stated. A 90 cm square printed on both sides with a hand-rolled hem tells you the seller cares about the finish.
Printed or painted? Almost every artist scarf is a print of an original; a hand-painted scarf is a one-off and says so.
Edition sizes are the seller’s claim. Several labels number their scarves; that’s their wording, not a measure of value.

What we left out, and why

We checked 76 scarves. Another 19 passed the same tests but didn’t fit this list (among them Mantility, Jessica Russell Flint and pieces from the Guggenheim and the Whitney); 32 failed. The main reasons: no named artist (Echo’s Series Collection and Thackray of England credit only the brand); not silk (Lulie Wallace’s in-stock scarf, the V&A’s Man Ray and May Morris scarves, Gougenheim’s large squares); sold out or unavailable (Grayson Perry at the Serpentine, Michael Craig-Martin at the Royal Academy, Alex Katz at the Guggenheim); and closed or no longer trading (Clare Haggas’s business). Pocket squares by named artists have their own guide.

FAQ

Who makes artist-designed silk scarves? Artists’ own labels (Karen Mabon, Sabina Savage, Emily Carter, Jessie Zhao, Aubrey Kurlansky), labels that commission artists (Massif Central, Alba Amicorum, DESEDA) and museum shops (Tate, the British Museum, the Royal Academy, MoMA, SFMOMA, the Met). We checked 25 on their sellers’ own pages on 17 October 2026.

What makes a scarf artist-designed? A named artist made the original artwork, and the seller says so on the product page. A scarf “designed by our studio” or “by master artists” without a name isn’t an artist scarf.

Are museum shop scarves worth buying? Often, if you check the fabric. Museum silk scarves cost £85 to £120 or $98 to $145; some are new designs by living artists (Grayson Perry, Barbara Rae), others reproduce a work in the collection, and some museum scarves are modal, not silk.

How much does an artist-designed silk scarf cost? From $65 to $845 in our check. Most artists’ own 90 cm silk squares cost $150 to $275; museum silk scarves cost £85 to £120 in the UK and $98 to $145 in the US.

Is every artist scarf real silk? No. Several scarves sold as art are modal or modal-silk blends, including the V&A’s Man Ray and May Morris scarves and Isabelle Gougenheim’s large squares. Check that the fabric line says 100% silk.

Where can I buy a Grayson Perry silk scarf? When we checked on 17 October 2026, Tate sold one made exclusively for it (£120, 91 × 88 cm) and the British Museum Shop sold his map scarf (£85, 90 cm). The Serpentine’s was sold out.

Are limited-edition artist scarves worth more? Not necessarily. Edition sizes are the seller’s own claim, and there’s no guarantee a numbered scarf will be worth more later. Buy one you’ll wear or frame.

How do you tell a printed artist scarf from a hand-painted one? A hand-painted scarf is a one-off painted directly on the silk, and the seller says so: Elmira Originals calls its scarves “one-of-one artwork, not a print”. Almost every other artist scarf is a print of an original artwork.

Sources

Every scarf is described from its seller’s own page, linked above, checked 17 October 2026; quotes are verbatim. Inch-to-centimetre conversions are ours. Exclusions are listed in this post’s research files.