#INSPIRATION 01/05

Regularly I get asked about my inspiration and where I get inspired…

Right in the middle of the corona pandemic, my cousins and me moved our Aunt Tini to a nursing home. This remarkable woman was the sister of my mother and an avid hand weaver with a particular style. In the 70s and 80s she owned a gallery and hand weaving mill in Valkenswaard, called BOBIJN. She was well-known in the area and her enterprise was characteristic of the cultural climate in the village.

Her house was packed with big wooden looms, stacks of books about arts and crafts were covering the tables and the cabinets were filled with yarn all the way to the ceiling. Old photographs were hanging the walls in disorderly fashion, wooden medicine cabinets were filled with tens of thousands of buttons and piles of boxes were waiting for us to open them. Anyway, a house to wander about in for months!

On the first floor we found a cupboard containing over a hundred tapestries and carpets, all handmade by our Aunt, neatly wrapped in white sheets. What a beautiful collection! I need to do something with this. These are amazing textures in beautiful earth tones, handmade and executed in 100% wool. It doesn’t get more sustainable than this! One stack of tapestries is allowed to come with me to the studio, where I drape them on a frame for inspiration.

To be continued…

Written by Gonnette Smits, Creative Director