Felt IS Fabulous

Palace Yurt, JA studios

The exhibition Fashioning Felt was definitely worth the long subway ride. Many of the works were inspiring simply in their construction and innovation of such an old and traditional process.

Some highlights include the very clever Felt molding by Kathryn Walter, above. Which surprisingly well with the traditional architecture of the museum.

I was also very drawn to the beauty of the wall hanging of artist Inge Lindquist. Where through a specific technique she created rich and beautiful variations of green in a large felt wall hanging. Sorry no image can be found:(


I was excited to see the fabulous urchin pouf in person and still desperately want one of these lovelies designed by Christien Meindertsma. They would be a perfect versatile piece of furniture in our little NY apt.



But by far the highlight of the show was the amazing and absolutely gorgeous Palace Yurt, installed in the conservatory of the museum, created by JA Studios, artist Janice Arnold. This piece had a many paneled walls, a full ceiling and completely enveloped you in light, white, and felt. It was truly beautiful.


With the many unique panels it also really inspired knowledge toward the possibility in the felting process.

And a most fascinating part was watching the video of the making of this piece, I highly recommend you check it out here. It is so interesting. It was especially interesting watching this video in contrast to the video that documents Malaysian farmers making felt walls for their yurt homes. The Malaysian farmers illustrate how easy the process is and how you can create felt with very primitive tools while the JA Studio video illustrates the vast artistic possibilities in this simple material.

So all in all, a great success. And sitting in the Cooper Hewitt's lovely garden for lunch was just a bonus to the visit.