MultiFelt - Histoire de pulls aims at revalorizing forgotten wools - damaged sweaters and neglected local wool - in the form of a hybrid and multilayer felt. 

Originally, there was a challenge: how to create, without depending on industry, a textile material from reused materials? 

Damaged sweaters bring material and color. Too damaged to be worn, resold or exported, they are provided to me by local recyclers. To make the most of what is «already there» and minimize the processing steps, the existing qualities of the sweaters - their colors, their textures, their finishes - will be retained. Sweaters can thus continue to tell a bit of their story... 

To assemble these fragments of sweaters, I use local, undyed wool. Beyond its many qualities - ecological, thermal, acoustic - local wool can be considered a forgotten treasure. Why? Because the wool processing industries have gradually disappeared in Europe. Breeders, who struggle to value it, sometimes end up burning it or throwing it away. 

Local wool and fragments of sweaters are therefore assembled to form a multi-layer felt, the MultiFelt. This hybrid felt, combining recycled material and natural material, is a way for me to question the origin and future of the textiles that surround us. To affirm that their manufacture, their consumption and their chain impacts are not self-evident. 

Declining this material in the form of objects for the interior – rugs, cushions, wall hangings – I continue my research within the local wool sectors, which are gradually reappearing in Europe, in search of tools and developments on a larger scale. 

One may find more information about my work on my website: www.louiserichard.net

For the Draad project I propose to exhibit part of my first MultiFelt collection composed of 2 wall hangings (Wave and Avec Vue) and 5 felt chair pads.

Photo captions & credits : 

Photo 1 : Wave, Wall hanging, wool felt, (c) Dominique Michiels

Photo 2 : Wave, Detail, (c) Louise Richard

Photo 3 : Avec Vue, Wall hanging, wool felt, (c) Wiktoria Synak

Photo 4 & 5 : Chair pads, wool felt, (c) Louise Richard