Another sense of fashion

nuno felt blouse: merino wool, silk, flax, bamboo. natural dyes: cochineal

Hand writings in blue

Handwritings in blue. Nuno felt piece from wool, silk, and flax. Natural dyes: indigo.

A piece participated in The International Nantong Craft Biennale 2014, in China.

Natural colours

Fiber Sculpture

 

Fiber manipulation/sculpture technique, developed by me. ©

Animism. Design with the soul.

“The animal world will keep invading and transforming the life of humans represented in a more abstract and less narrative manner.
Fibre and plant are becoming dominant materials animated by organic form and skeleton structures”.

“Primitive matter and organic shapes will embody a need of man longing for a more meaningful and ritualistic relationship with earth and the elements.
Resulting in a revival of animism.
Therefore designers create brut and raw shapes that resemble totemic termite mounds, honeycomb shape, spider web laces and timber structures”.

“Can design have a soul and therefore be animated?”

I have mentioned Li Edelkoort some years ago in one of my posts here and now came across her words again when Irit shared it. There’s so much of the truth and purity in her words about trends (that we already see today!) which echo so well with my own inner feelings and believes.

And the whole trend report of her is so well worth reading:

“Post Fossil - excavating 21st century creation by Lee Edelkoort 2011
Time has come for extreme change
Society is ready to break away from last century for good.
To break with creative conventions, theoretic rules and stigmas that now are questioned, challenged and broken.
To break with a materialistic mentality replacing it with the crafted materialization of modest earth-bound and recomposed matter.
In the aftermath of the worst financial crisis in decades, a period of glamorous and streamlined design for design's sake come to an end.
A new generation of designers retrace their roots, refine their earth and research their history, sometimes going back to the beginning of time.
In this process, they form and formulate design around natural and sustainable materials, favoring timber, hide, pulp, fibre, earth and fire.
Like contemporary cavemen, they reinvent shelter, redesign tools and manmade machines, and conceptualize archaic rituals for a more modest, content and contained lifestyle.
Like a Fred Flintstone of the future.
The animal world will keep invading and transforming the life of humans represented in a more abstract and less narrative manner.
fibre and plant are becoming dominant materials animated by organic form and skeleton structures.
Our relationship with all living organisms is at stake. Therefore humans will share and care for each other.
Soon the world will discover that we are all family.
Ecology and sustainability will no longer be enough.
Primitive matter and organic shapes will embody a need of man longing for a more meaningful and ritualistic relationship with earth and the elements.
Resulting in a revival of animism.
Therefore designers create brut and raw shapes that resemble totemic termite mounds, honeycomb shape, spider web laces and timber structures; at times incorporating biotechnology into the making process to inspire design systems for the future.
Nature is a dominant ingredient in this movement, although no longer used in a naive and aspiring ecological language, but as a mature philosophy fit for newer age. Raising the questions that need to be raised.
Can we do with less to become more?
Can design have a soul and therefore be animated?
Can man find a more meaningful way to consume?
Can we break with the past and reinvent the future?
In general, materials will be matte and humble, however the earth and its hidden riches also invites this generation to employ minerals, alloys and crystals; adding lustre and sometimes even sheen to fossil-like concepts and constructions.
Laquered and polished surfaces are enhancing vegabond finds, unveiling their raw beauty while questioning the survival of the world's economy.
At times these designs will echo the essence of the arte povera movement which is bound to make a revival – soon”

Lidewij Edelkoort

EXPLORING NUNO FELT and ECO PRINT with Vilte Kazlauskaite & Irit Dulman

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! and more details coming your way! But...if you are interested in exploring nuno felt textures and natural eco print with me and Irit Dulman in the island of Aphrodite - Cyprus (can you believe it??? :) reserve the dates this July!

Course I
Beyond the surface. Fabric manipulation in nuno felt dresses + Eco print.
July 17-20

Course II
Wild fibers. Fiber manipulation and raw fleeces in nuno felt accessories + Eco print.
July 21-23

 

 

INFO: viltess@gmail.com

 

P.S.

Based on inquiries we get, I have outlined main differences between 2 courses to make it easier for you to choose or just take both:

Beyond the surface - focuses on creating textures using fabric manipulation. We will also go deep into how to construct a garment, different wool lay out techniques, shrinkage, constructing of the pattern. Irit will teach eco printing and dyeing, and she will focus more on dyeing fabrics and nuno felt.
Second workshop - Wild fibers - focuses on creating textures using raw fleeces + fiber manipulation, which is different than fabric manipulation in the first course. We will create our own fabric from raw fibers and will learn how to give it dimension and combine with all texture from fleece. I will show how to make very light felt with fleeces, but will also cover how to make it thick if preferred. We will not go deep into pattern making and construction in this workshop, it's just for an accessory but completely different materials and techniques than the first one. Irit will also teach eco print and dyeing, but here she will also focus on dyeing raw fleece and fibers (fabrics and felt as well).

 

You can read some information about these courses in Russian here

Or take a peek to a space the workshop will be held at here

The Wool Lab–trends for Summer 2013

It was really an honor to collaborate with the Wool Lab company in their trends booklet for Spring Summer 2013, - a guide to the best wool fabrics and yarns in the world. My pieces were chosen for one of the trends named PURE.

One of the most important things is to bring inspiration to people’s hearts. Isn’t it?

 

To dye for

It’s been really a busy time preparing for my trip to Australia this March to give workshops. In a meantime I managed to give 2 more workshops in Moscow and had real pleasure seeing the students create wonderful things from the wild fibers.

I also opened a real herbal lab in our apartment with lot’s of natural dyeing taking place. And found a beautiful quotation about natural dyes to continue the theme of the natural over the synthetic colours:

“One of the key reasons why natural colors look better than chemical colors because they are not 'pure' color: a natural red, for example, will include blue and yellow, whereas a chemical red will only contain red pigment. The impurities of natural dyes, which may comprise from five to 25 percent of the dye, consist of other hues that are similar to the main one, and it is these mixtures that make natural dyes so beautiful and create their harmony with neighboring natural colors. Where one person will see some purple in a hank of gray yarn, another may see some blue in it. To be able to see the difference is partly genetic, like the ability to curl one's tongue lengthwise, and partly a matter of experience. On the other hand, evenness of a synthetically dyed carpet is flat and uninteresting. Natural dye, precisely because of its unevenness, makes color vibrate or sparkle. And for some people this "imperfection," a sign of the artist's hand working natural substances from the garden or fields, has spiritual overtones.” (AzerbaijanRugs)

 

Some of my natural colours drying and waiting to be felted in. A real burst of colours, longing for Spring?..

International Year of Natural Fibres 2009

I always used only natural materials for my felting and it has been one of my fundamentals that I will continue to follow. So it was a pleasant surprise for me to find out that a year 2009 is International Year of Natural Fibres.

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2009-ieji – natūralių pluoštų metai.