Behind the Tuft: A Personal Journey with Wool and Handmade Art

Wool has always been more than just a material to me. It carries memory, comfort, and presence. My connection to wool started in childhood and has grown into a lifelong journey - one that now lives in every piece of handmade art I create.

I believe the first years of our lives mark us in ways we don’t fully see until adulthood. Back then, the world is still distant - what matters most is the warmth and closeness of our parents. For me, that closeness was always wrapped in wool.

In my childhood photos, my mother is almost always wearing a wool sweater - or knitting one. She has an incredible gift for shaping patterns into form, and that image is deeply imprinted in me. As an adult, whenever I touch wool, I feel calm. It is soft yet incredibly strong, protective, warm, and grounding. Beyond that, wool holds remarkable qualities: it is hypoallergenic, temperature-regulating, odor-resistant, antibacterial, UV-protective, breathable - and biodegradable within a year. Humanity has known this for 6,000 years, keeping wool close as coats, hats, rugs, pillows, and everyday essentials.

Today, as we become increasingly disconnected from nature, I feel it is essential to bring these natural materials back into our living spaces. Wool shapes our mood, eases our mind, and quietly heals. That is why I am constantly seeking new forms to let wool speak: a 3D cushion, a large rug, a hand-felted sculpture, or a tufted wall piece. Wool can even defy gravity - as in my Yelda sculpture - or harmonize with other natural fibers, as in my Ebb&Flow sculptural tufted wall art.

Working with wool is always an intuitive process. It takes shape in my hands, while I connect with the story, the energy, and the home of the person I create for. It is a threefold dialogue: the client’s world, my energy, and the living force of wool. Together we shape an artwork that doesn’t just sit in a room but defines its atmosphere and presence. This is my most meditative state - guided by intuition, leading always to something richer and more surprising than I first imagined.

Wool has been with us for millennia. Now, it deserves the chance to reveal new sides of itself - to remind us of what it can bring to our lives and spaces. My role is to serve as a medium, giving voice and life to this extraordinary, timeless material.