A Weekend of Rope with Conor Aphilia

Location - Studio.Form Bristol

Saturday 5th December 2026 - 19:00 til Late
Sunday 6th December 2026 - 11:00 - 19:00

Salon Tickets - £20/25
Workshop - £100/120 per couple
Combo Ticket (Salon & Workshop) - £130/140 per couple

Saturday Salon

The Salon comes to Bristol for a Saturday night gathering at Studio.Form, created for those who want to spend an evening enveloped in the atmosphere of Kinbaku. This is a space for observation, beauty, and delicious provocation.

The evening will begin with a live Kinbaku performance by Conor Aphilia. Rope will be allowed to unfold without explanation or interruption, creating space to watch the relationship between attention, movement, tension, and trust. The performance is an invitation to notice the smaller things: a change in breath, a shift in weight, the instant before a body yields, and the quiet conversation that continues beneath the rope.

After the performance, the room will open into a relaxed gathering with time for tying, conversation, and observation. Guests may practise, watch, meet others, or simply settle into the atmosphere. There is no pressure to tie or perform. The Salon is built around the pleasure of being present in a room where Kinbaku is given time, care, and the centre of attention.

The Salon is neither a formal workshop nor an ordinary practice night. It is an intentional space where rope is not hurried, explained away, or flattened into technique. Studio Form will become a room of low light, soft focus, and sharp attention, allowing rope to sit at its centre like something rich, dark, and quietly irresistible.

Guests are invited to arrive with curiosity, respect, and a willingness to be affected by what they see and feel around them. Leave rigid definitions at the door. Bring your own rope if you hope to tie, wear something that allows you to feel comfortable in the room, and be ready to contribute to an atmosphere of radical tenderness, serious fun, quiet mischief, and high possibility.

Rope for romantics

Level: Improvers to intermediate

Rope for Romantics is a one day workshop at Studio Form in Bristol about using rope, movement, and attention to create a felt conversation between two bodies. The day will focus less on collecting elaborate patterns and more on how a few deliberate gestures can communicate tenderness, anticipation, confidence, exposure, and desire.

Fluency with the body is what allows rope to become storytelling. Before a rope is placed, there is already posture, breath, distance, weight, hesitation, and intent. During this workshop, participants will learn to notice these elements and use them with greater precision. Rope becomes an extension of the 

About the workshop

Led by Conor Aphilia, this workshop brings together two related areas of his practice. One explores mindful movement, play, and the theatrical possibilities of intimacy, while the other offers a quieter study of closeness, pacing, observation, and adaptation. Together they create a practice in which simplicity does not mean a lack of depth. A small number of ropes can hold an enormous amount of feeling when the timing, touch, and intention are clear.

The day will begin with grounding exercises and a discussion of consent, communication, and holding space. Consent will be approached not as an interruption to creativity, but as one of the tools that makes sensitive and adventurous play possible. 

Basic structures will be introduced gradually. These structures are predominantly floor based and use only a few ropes. They are not presented as fixed sequences to reproduce perfectly. Instead, they provide a clear frame for exploring holding, exposure, closeness, power exchange, and the changing quality of touch. Each exercise will leave room for different bodies, mobility, experience, and emotional intention. The final part of the day will bring these elements together through guided improvisation. Each pair will create a short study using a small vocabulary of touch, movement, and rope. There will be time to repeat, refine, and receive individual feedback before closing with integration and reflection.

Who this is for

This workshop is not suitable for absolute beginners. Participants should be able to tie a secure single column tie and have a basic fluency with rope handling. Advanced suspension skills are not required. The work will be predominantly floor based, with an emphasis on movement, touch, body awareness, and connection rather than technical complexity.

This is a couples workshop and is suitable for pairs comfortable with intimacy exposure and playing with depth. The teaching is intended to be adaptable and body-inclusive, with time to find variations that make sense for the people in the room.