Lise Frølund

Weaver

©Lise Frølund

When craft and logic meet on the loom

Lise uses thread like a painter uses brushes or spatulas
Her home studio is situated in south eastern Jutland
She works on a digital Jacquard loom

Lise Frølund has always been fascinated by the mixture of craft and logic that goes into weaving. “You have only two sets of strings,” she says, “which cross each other at an angle of 90 degrees. But there is so much more to explore than meets the eye! I feel that I am so lucky I am not a painter, for example, because it would give me unlimited freedom; instead, what I really enjoy about weaving is that I have to ‘bend’ to very strict rules.” For the past 20 years, Lise has worked exclusively on a digital Jacquard loom, with which she creates stunning tapestries and wall hangings that represent her very personal artistic expression, which she has developed over the course of several decades.

Interview

©Lise Frølund

©Lise Frølund

Why do you work with a digital Jacquard loom?: I simply love this tool, because with it I can create even more combinations than I could before. But another important aspect of my work is the new materials: over the years I have used all kinds of threads to see what is possible to do on the loom.
How do your create your designs?: I use a punch card system, only my cards are not made of wood, cardboard or paper, but are digital and shown graphically on a screen as black and white squares. Each punch card has as many black and white squares as there are threads in the weaving (warp and weft).
Is it time consuming?: To find out what you want to do is always very time consuming. Once you decide, you can’t go back, you have to go through with it. You cannot change your mind along the way. It takes at least as long to decide what to do as to actually do it.
What inspires your designs?: Everyday life, and whatever my eyes fall upon. But I’ve always been fascinated by the movement of people. How a body stands or runs or thinks. That is what I like to convey in my works.

Lise Frølund is a master artisan: he began his career in 1979 and he started teaching in 1979