A delicacy in woodcarved lace
- Julien’s favourite piece is his wooden replica of Brussels lace
- He feels his work is a reflection of who he is
- He held his 2024 solo exhibition at the Musée des Beaux-arts et de la Dentelle in Alençon, France
Through his unique woodcarving style, Julien Feller transforms pieces of wood into extremely delicate, almost weightless, refined artworks. “I was 11 years old when I decided to study woodworking,” he says. “At the time, I did not know I would become a carver, I was only thinking about creating furniture." Julien discovered his affinity for the specific craft of woodcarving at 17, and two years later, he started his studies in what would become his future practice. "Sculpting is the ideal way of communicating my feelings to others,” he says. In 2023, Julien was awarded the ECO Global Artisan award by the Agaati Foundation in the USA. He has also showcased his work in a solo exhibition called Dialogue de fibres at the Musée des Beaux-arts et de la Dentelle in France in 2024. Today, Julien's work is deeply rooted in the cultural heritage of his native Belgium.
INTERVIEW
My skills in carving are not limited to wood. I am trained to work in clay, wax, bronze, resin and plaster. I also specialise in ornamental styles, patterns and techniques used throughout the centuries. This allows me to reproduce missing or damaged pieces during restoration work.
When I first began carving ‘lace’, I was deeply inspired by Grinling Gibbons and Italian Renaissance artists Raphael, Michelangelo and Ghiberti. Today, I am influenced by modern European lace designers.
I work with traditional hand tools, which is a time consuming process that produces the best results. Innovation comes from how I have pushed these traditional methods to the very edge, creating wood sculptures so thin and intricate that they can trick the eye into believing it is looking at lacework.
The feeling of my sharpened gouge in my hands, running it through the wood to remove the excess and find my sculpture beneath. I love to step back after hundreds of hours of work to see the final result: wood transformed into the most delicate lacework.
