ABOUT

Vivavilt is a Dutch felt art studio. Welcome. Owner Margot van Leeuwen has been creating handmade contemporary felt textiles for over 20 years. Her usage of natural materials like wool, silk, and plant fibers – many grown on site in her studio’s garden – carry the viewer on a journey from the damp soil and stones of the earth upward to cherry blossoms, ethereal gossamer strands, and beyond.

Felt is the surprising congress of wool fibers, water, soap, human muscle, and friction, creating a non-woven textile of incredibly expressive potential. Felt is both the most ancient fiber technology and one of the most innovative contemporary fiber art materials. When combined with Margot’s deep love for this material and the natural world that generously provides it, the resulting work both embodies nature and evokes the essential peace, power, order, and riotous beauty we find in the natural world.

“My art embodies harmony with nature. It is both craft and fine art; both ancient and contemporary. I’m always astonished at how the love I feel for the materials – the natural dyed wool and silk and plants from my garden, the whites the grays the earth-browns the wild woolen blacks, the genetic diversity of the sheep, the cold shock of the rainwater, the warm glide of the soap – this love I feel for these humble elements is the philosopher’s stone that transforms material into experience and then into a portal that transports you beyond where you stand to where you belong in rapturous, harmonious relationship with the natural world.”

Commissions

Vivavilt welcomes commissions. Email info@vivavilt.nl with interest.

viva_vilt on Instagram contains an assortment of process photos and videos that help you discover this incredible art form.