Louise Richard is a textile designer based in Brussels. Her MultiFelt line, made of felted damaged clothes and virgin wool, includes interior objects and wall pieces.
She also creates woven pieces in jacquard, plaids or tapestries. In the spirit of the MultiFelt project, the objective is to develop a weaving line combining recycled and local wool yarns.
After 10 years of urban planning projects in France and then in Belgium, Louise Richard turned to textile design in 2017. Inspired by Charlotte Perriand, she envisages creation through materials and their manipulation. MultiFelt was born during her Master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels.
“ Despite its many virtues, undyed local wool is a forgotten treasure : the processing factories have gradually disappeared and sheep farmers are struggling to promote it. ”
— Louise Richard
Louise Richard displays four of her «Murales» on the walls of the gallery. These textile works from her MultiFelt line were created by felting wool and fragments of clothes. As one approaches Louise Richard’s pieces, one can guess the sleeves and busts of the woollen jumpers that form the base material for her creations. The selected elements allow her to create colourful compositions and to play with shapes and textures.
By combining distorted, stained and used pieces of clothing with local virgin wool and by working them in water, she creates a multi-layered felt. Water and repetitive movement allow the fibres to intertwine and bring out the colours. “This process gives me the possibility to play with thickness and add layers.” These strata are visible on her impressive twisted wall piece called Punto di fuga - vanishing point.
It was her affection for wool, a material that is part of everyday life, and her interest in recycling issues that sparked off her creative process. «I was looking for a certain autonomy in the production of a material made from recycled textiles. Felting wool means you can reuse it without relying on the industry.” She is particularly fond of Cyclup, a recycling centre located in the Marolles district, minutes away from Augusta.