Marie Jambers

Who: Marie Jambers is a textile designer dedicated to a hand-made craft combining traditional techniques such as weaving, painting and printing, from places far apart, with local materials.

When: After obtaining 2014 her bachelor’s with the honors in textile design at ENSAV, La Cambre, Belgium, Jambers studied at the master for textile design ECAL, Lausanne in 2017. She received the Young Belgian Design Award, Brussels, in 2015.

Where: Marie Jambers draws inspiration from all the places she has lived. Her work is a way of inhabiting the place where she currently is. As for example at the weaving workshop of the Atelier Africain du Design and A La Cour du Roi Agonglo in Benin. She plans to share a studio with Estelle Bourdet.

What: While using as her sole medium wool from the association Laines d’ici, based in Neuchâtel, and a single width weaving system, Jambers explores the endless possibilities offered by the combination of weaving patterns, painting the threads directly and silk-screen printing on the finished fabric to create complex and layered textures.

The resulting fabric can then be employed for domestic uses such as bed covers, curtains, rugs and ponchos. Jambers has also used her textiles for artistic collaborations, including a series of posters using a risograph made with Caroline Wolewinski and a textile assemblage with Estelle Bourdet presented at La Placette, Lausanne.

Why: The warmth and plain presence of the wool threads offers a surprising contrast with the elaborated and playful motives entangled in the material: a contrast similar to that experienced when attempting to create a place to call home in a moving world.