Red & snow

nuno felt dress: wool & silk. natural dyes: madder

Little felt lace dress

nuno felt: silk, wool. natural dyes: madder

Belle Armoire

I think I have forgotten to show this feature on the blog. Lovely memories of the Summer too – a feature in Belle Armoire, Summer 2012, volume 12 issue 2, feat. in pg. 18-23.

Many thanks for Svetlana Batura, who made all photography for this article.

Prints

Collaboration with Irit Dulman.

Weld and madder

 

EXPLORING NUNO FELT and ECO PRINT with Vilte Kazlauskaite & Irit Dulman

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! and more details coming your way! But...if you are interested in exploring nuno felt textures and natural eco print with me and Irit Dulman in the island of Aphrodite - Cyprus (can you believe it??? :) reserve the dates this July!

Course I
Beyond the surface. Fabric manipulation in nuno felt dresses + Eco print.
July 17-20

Course II
Wild fibers. Fiber manipulation and raw fleeces in nuno felt accessories + Eco print.
July 21-23

 

 

INFO: viltess@gmail.com

 

P.S.

Based on inquiries we get, I have outlined main differences between 2 courses to make it easier for you to choose or just take both:

Beyond the surface - focuses on creating textures using fabric manipulation. We will also go deep into how to construct a garment, different wool lay out techniques, shrinkage, constructing of the pattern. Irit will teach eco printing and dyeing, and she will focus more on dyeing fabrics and nuno felt.
Second workshop - Wild fibers - focuses on creating textures using raw fleeces + fiber manipulation, which is different than fabric manipulation in the first course. We will create our own fabric from raw fibers and will learn how to give it dimension and combine with all texture from fleece. I will show how to make very light felt with fleeces, but will also cover how to make it thick if preferred. We will not go deep into pattern making and construction in this workshop, it's just for an accessory but completely different materials and techniques than the first one. Irit will also teach eco print and dyeing, but here she will also focus on dyeing raw fleece and fibers (fabrics and felt as well).

 

You can read some information about these courses in Russian here

Or take a peek to a space the workshop will be held at here

Project: Repurpose

Almost two years ago one of my clients was so excited contacting me, and she had an idea… She wanted me to repurpose her wedding dress that was sitting in the box for years. I think her excitement simply infected me and I said yes to her, let’s try this.

So the dress made its way to me over Atlantic. When I opened the big box, I had ambiguous feelings – fear to take the dress apart, excitement to repurpose it and…worry when I saw it was all synthetic and not silk as my client thought of it.

I don’t usually use anything synthetic in my pieces or projects, I don’t feel connected with the synthetics. And especially having to combine it with the natural materials… The other problem was that most of the fabric of the dress was not suitable for felting at all.

As the excitement and enthusiasm of the first moments faded away, I understood I could do nothing unless I build a connection with this fabric. I needed it to speak to me. There were dozen of times when I took it to my hands and then put it away. I took it apart, carded some fabric into fibers, and removed the embellishments to be felted on something I still didn’t know what. I was lucky to have such a wonderful client who understood my creative process and was ready to wait even for a year or more.

Concentrating my thoughts on my client, opened up my mind. Though the fabric was synthetic, it was a part of my clients image some years ago – I was sure this dress was soaking in most positive feelings, love and adoration during those times when my client was marrying a man she loved. It wasn’t just a piece of polyester to her. This was the point where the fabric could speak to me and I could listen. My work began.

It wasn’t all about felting, just a few pieces, it was more of interpretation in textiles. I applied several techniques and thought a lot about colors. I was sure the colors should be softening the feeling of synthetics and should be something that would look worth of a woman whatever her age would be. As the woman who decided to repurpose her wedding dress wants to cherish the things made of it for years or maybe a lifetime.

 

And…the best reward for this “communication” with the dress was my clients reaction – she loved every single piece. And I hope she is going to cherish it for years.

Workshops

When I came back from the Netherlands I found a CD waiting for me in the post. Agostina’s (Italian Felt Academy) husband Gosta Zwilling was taking photos during the workshop and sent them to me as well. It was really interesting to see these photos after some time has passed after the workshop in Italy ended. There is always something you see and realize in the moment it is happening, and always something else that comes to your perception when the time passes.

I pay a lot of attention to working on samples during my workshops. And here are some of the samples the participants made in Italy. Their concept for the workshop was combining archaic spirit of the woman using raw fleece with modern, subtle femininity using tactile surfaces from various fabrics.

The workshop in the Netherlands was taking place in a perfect studio of Truus Huijbregts. It is always more inspiring to work in the surroundings like these and create a healthy environment for creativity in a relaxed way without the stress  that is no good at all during such workshops.

The students made lot’s of beautiful and promising samples, as well as dresses, but I didn’t take any more descent photos to be posted. One of the reasons is that after the workshop the dresses are still quite wet and the process of working with textures is not finally finished, thus I never get to see them in a full beauty, but knowing the technique and what it gives, I always know, what the students will discover when they go home with their dresses and finish them 100%.
Workshop in Belgium gave me an opportunity to meet one Lithuanian woman living in Belgium and also making felt. We had quite a lot of conversations about creativity and felt making during the workshop and the time after as Sigita accompanied me on the trips to Antwerpen where we also visited MOMU – Mode Museum with an exhibition on knitwear in fashion “Unravel”.  And I felt really happy when she sent me a photo of a dress she made straight after returning from my workshop, inspired by what we did and talked during the workshop and the knitting exhibition we saw. When I see something like that, I understand that my student got the point (which is not always easy, especially for people who are used to working just inside the box), and that my teaching is not just a mere play of techniques, it makes people create using the language I teach. And that is my goal as a teacher.


P.S. You can always check my schedule of workshops on my blog which should be updated soon with more workshops in Autumn, 2011.

“bored with seeing collections that have no soul, no feeling, no seduction”

Some of you were quite curious to know more about Josephus Thimister, the designer with whom I had honor to collaborate for his AW 2011/12 collection this year. I found some quotes on the internet I would like to share for others would get at least a little sense of uniqueness of Josephus, and some photos from his last year collection, some looks I just love.

                

“So what made you decide to start over?
Actually, it happened quite naturally. My intuition told me so. When I observed the fashion world over the last eight years, I saw a declining story. But recently I started to make clothes for my own pleasure, to show that I still have things to say and share. With experience, you know what to do and what not to do, and at the same time you’re much more free creatively. I am stronger now than I was ten years ago. And I was bored with seeing collections that have no soul, no feeling, no seduction—just a product on a hanger. I am not a bling-bling person.”
Read more: Josephus Thimister Haute Couture S/S 10 Paris - Page 7 - the Fashion Spot http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f60/josephus-thimister-haute-couture-s-s-10-paris-95032-7.html#ixzz1Haq68bLD

                 

“and that's the beauty of Thimister. nothing is ever without meaning....nothing is ever shocking for the sake of shocking. everything is so bound together with utter poetry”.
Read more: Josephus Thimister Haute Couture S/S 10 Paris - Page 8 - the Fashion Spot http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f60/josephus-thimister-haute-couture-s-s-10-paris-95032-8.html#ixzz1HarjzI3h

                   

THIMISTER
The origins of Josephus Thimister are eclectic: he is Russian, French, Belgian, Orthodoxe, Catholic, Jewish... A mix that he bluntly calls "garbage". After passing through Karl Lagerfeld and the fashion house of Jean Patou, he worked as a decorator before being named artistic director of the very prestigious fashion house Balenciaga. During these 5 and a half years, he gave Balenciaga a breath of fresh air, then he created his own Parisien label in 1997, under which he has since presented his Haute Couture and ready-to-wear collections. At the same time, he became art director for the Italian brand Genny, and from 2005 to 2007 for Charles Jourdan. He has also worked for a number of ready-to-wear brands as well as being a consultant. The creations of Thimester posess a certain lightness and poetry which creates an elegance devoid of any vanity. Thimester seems to rejuvinate the traditional Haute Couture, notably by using unconventional materials.

photos from: 2e-bureau.com and Fashionologie

P.S.: Some internet sites offering THIMISTER: Barneys New York, Boutique Roma, Anastasia Boutique, Case Study Space, Antonioli

Wild beauty

Recently I’ve been working on a collection of nuno felted eco dresses, all dyed with plants or in natural colors, that was presented during the exhibition “World of a woman” in Kaunas together with the collection of ARZA jouillerie amber and jet stone jewelry. (You can view the photos of the show on my Facebook fan page Vilte or on Flickr gallery).
I won’t be too humble in saying that the presentation was really inspiring and enchanting, but it was that way. The collection itself was very organic and definitely not static, so I decided to reinforce this impression by presenting it in a movement on modern dance dancers.
My biggest thanks thus goes to the dancers of Studija M, leaded by Lina Puodžiukaitė, a couple of dancers from Aura – Gotautė Kalmatavičiūtė and Gabija Blochina; masters of visage and hair style from Kirpėjų ir Grožio specialistų asociacija; and photographer Nerijus Kuzmickas.

There’s a very tiny sneak peak to how the dancers moved on Youtube. And if you want to listen to the music used in the show, here it is – first part was more light with this music and the second part presented more deep textures and colors with this music. 

Concept of the collection was focusing on raw, “nude” natural materials (raw silk, wool, handspun silk, sustainable banana fiber…) creating wild organic surfaces, everything formed with hands in live shapes, seamless dresses. It’s like picking up raw wool and silk and “moulding” it into organic silhouettes and textures, beautiful wild “skin” for a human being.
All the collection was dyed with plants in eco friendly way giving it another organic aspect. These colors are live and warm, they encode something that is beyond what you can see with your eyes, it encompasses the feeling of the color…

  

Beyond serene

She bird

White peonies

Tresor

Tree of life

Inamorata

Tactile Earth

More dresses and more photos on FB or Flickr.
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Paskutiniu metu kūriau eko kolekciją vėlimo ant audinių technika, dažydama viską augalais, kuri buvo pristatyta “Moters Pasaulio” parodos metu Kaune, kartu su ARZA joillerie juvelyrika iš gintaro ir gagato. (Nuotraukas iš pristatymo rasite mano Facebook’o puslapyje ir Flickr galerijoje).
Turbūt ne kuklu sakyti, kad pristatymas buvo užburiantis, tačiau jis būtent toks buvo. Pati kolekcija buvo labai organiška ir tikrai ne statiška, todėl norėdama tai sustiprinti, pristatymui pasirinkau modernaus šokio šokėjas.
Taigi nuoširdžiausiai dėkoju Studija M šokėjoms, vadovaujamoms Linos Puodžiukaitės, porai Auros šokėjų – Gotautei Kalmatavičiūtei, Gabijai Blochinai; Kirpėjų ir grožio specialistų asociacijos meistrėms; fotografui Nerijui Kuzmickui.
Youtube svetainėje ir nedidukė atkarpėlė reportažo – tiesiog tam, kad pajausti, kaip šokėjos judėjo. Pirmos dalies muzika – švelnesnėms, lengvesnėms suknelėms, antroji – ryškesnėms, gilesnėms faktūroms ir spalvoms.
Kolekcijos konceptas – atsigręžimas į natūralias pirmines, “žalias”, tikras, “nuogas” medžiagas (šilko, vilnos, bananų pluoštai, rankomis verptas šilkas…), jomis kuriant organiškus paviršius, viską formuojant rankomis, be siūlių. Tai tarsi “žalių” pluoštų paėmimas į rankas ir organiškų siluetų, faktūrų, laukinės naujos žmogaus “odos” lipdymas rankomis.
Dar vienas organiškas kolekcijos aspektas – dažymas augalais. Tokios spalvos – gyvos, šiltos, savyje talpinančios ne tik tai, ką galima pamatyti akimis, bet ir tai, ką galima pajausti…

Daugiau nuotraukų ir suknelių FB arba Flickr galerijose.

Archaic couture or what’s in common between Chanel and feltmaking trends?

  There is no surprise why there is a big trend of all the wild things in feltmakers world. If you saw Chanel’s ready to wear collection for Fall 2010 you will not ask why. If Karl Lagerfeld can get that wild in couture world, sure we, the feltmakers, can :)



















These photos of my eco-friendly nuno felted dresses with raw organic Wensleydale and Drenthe Heath wool are the prelude to some news to come. Soon :)
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Kas  matė 2010 rudens “ready to wear” Chanel mados namų kolekciją, nesistebės ir šiuo metu veltinio pasaulyje vyraujančia laukiniškumo tendencija. Jei Karl Lagerfield gali taip sulaukėti, galim ir mes :)
Šios mano veltų suknelių nuotraukos yra preliudija į tam tikras naujienas. Jau greitai :)