Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 40
Occupation: Textile artist and fashion designer.
Instagram: @alfiesfuzzyfriends
Hometown: Stockholm.
Studio location: Amsterdam.
Describe what you make: I make textile works for walls and floors aiming to create physical representations of the soft spots in our minds. I like to listen to people’s stories and dreams, and weave them into abstract memories of joy and our guardian angels and selves. Lush landscapes and dancing figures to lie on or lean into, where the wool reflects your body heat, giving the feeling of a human hug.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: All the private commissions where I had the privilege to get to know each person and space, hear the stories that shaped them, and make something truly personal.
Describe the problem your work solves: The works emerged from a need for physical and mental softness. A world more empathetic and forgiving. A place where sharp corners and competition is replaced with growing shapes and collaboration. The tactility felt like a counterpart to our digital lives. The slow, handcrafted landscapes, a caring space in times of uncertainty. The pieces show a glimpse of a lighter world, a hopefulness of new beginnings and excitement for what’s to come.
Describe the project you are working on now: My upcoming exhibition at Superhouse. It’s a very personal project with all-new pieces. It has been amazing to work with [gallerist] Stephen Markos, and push myself into new directions and materials. Each work tells stories from my family living a blissful alienation in the Swedish woods. Moving into more 3-D objects is inspiring and using hand-blown glass as a contrasting element is adding a new dimension.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: My solo exhibition, “Call It Angel Earth” (March 24–April 30) at Superhouse! For the first time, I will tell my own stories, creating a domestic world of fuzzy furnishings imbued with personal memories and spirituality.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Sunlight!
What you do when you’re not working: I like to daydream.
Sources of creative envy: Children. In the first years of your life, you’re still so connected to the non-physical plane of existence. You can create purely out of love and curiosity.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Lemmy from Motörhead once said “if you kick out your demons, your angels might leave you.” So none!
Concrete or marble? Dreaming of a soft, warm future marble.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse on top of a high-rise.
Remember or forget? Forget consciously, remember unconsciously.
Aliens or ghosts? Angels.
Dark or light? The contrast between them.
