Léonore Graff

Weaver

©Stephanie Bircher

Sharing through weaving

Léonore likes creating one-of-a-kind pieces
She is a teacher as well as a craftswoman
She lets her imagination run free while working

Léonore Graff’s work is mostly guided by inspiration, the material she has available and improvisation that is at the heart of her creative process. This is why she cherishes unique pieces or limited collections. Uniqueness is essential to her craft, and keeps it interesting. A teacher as well as a craftswoman, she is used to working with other people, whether it be teaching in a protected atelier, offering private courses or collaborating with other artists and artisans. Sustainability is also an important motivation for her, as she tries to use mostly locally sourced material in the best way possible. Her goal of using all material available guides her creations. In her work Léonore combine resourcefulness and creativity.

Where

Interview

©Stephanie Bircher

©Stephanie Bircher

How did you get into teaching your craft?: I discovered weaving and the social work aspect at the same time as I did a weaving and teaching internship in a sheltered workshop, and both aspects appealed to me. The mix of the two was very interesting, I liked the contact in the workshop as well as the craft.
What skills are needed to weave?: You have to be patient, not be afraid of repetition, and at the same time you have to be able to improvise to avoid monotony. I always try to have opportunities to improvise. I do not know exactly what the piece is going to look like until it is finished.
What is the situation for weaving in Switzerland?: Thankfully the craft is doing better than when I first trained. People did not understand why I chose to do this training back then, but now there is a renewed interest in handmade products. It is no longer a dying profession – it is simply a rare profession!
Is there an aspect of your work that would surprise people?: The amount of work before and after the actual weaving. For example, you have to pass each thread through a hole without making a mistake, sometimes there are more than 1000 threads. It is a lot of work beforehand, as well as during the finishing touches.

Léonore Graff is a master artisan: she began her career in 1998 and she started teaching in 2001