Nicole Driessens & Ivo van den Baar

Wandschappen

Fabric sculptor

©Wandschappen

Mazhar Uzun ©Studio Wandschappen

Making people feel at home

Nicole and Ivo make hand-sewn wool felt plants
Every unique object is handmade by the duo and their small team
They like to mentor young designers and train students

The duo Nicole Driessens and Ivo van den Baar of Wandschappen have been working together since 1999. They were both trained in the arts: Ivo at the Royal Academy for Art and Design in Hertogenbosch and Nicole at the Academy for Visual Arts in Tilburg. Sculpting with textiles has been part of their artistic practice since 2009, when they were invited to stage a solo show in the Hommes gallery in Rotterdam, and decided to design nine black felt plant sculptures behind the gallery’s nine windows, to make a visual connection between the inside and the outside of the gallery. Today their felt plant sculptures attract customers from each corner of the world.

Interview

©Studio Wandschappen

©Wandschappen

Why did you develop your felt plants?: They represent the continuous migration of people from all over the world, fleeing from wars, natural disasters and poverty. When these people settle down, they will decorate their new houses and buy plants, because you feel at home where you grow your own plants.
How important is your city in your creative process?: Rotterdam is of great importance for worldwide migration and our work as artists is also very connected to this subject. We’re convinced we need each other, no matter where we come from. Attention to people and to crafts is the subject that links everything we do.
How would you define what you do?: We make textile art objects with a strong identity. With our work we tell stories that give people a new perspective on things they already know, but have forgotten to appreciate. We love to express our ideas, telling unexpected and surprising stories.
How do you blend tradition and innovation?: The tradition of sewing by hand, like tailors do, gives strong value to the objects we develop and produce. Our handmade objects take a lot of time and attention to make, and this is a traditional aspect of the work, but can also be considered quite innovative.

Nicole Driessens & Ivo van den Baar are master artisans: they began their career in 1999 and they started teaching in 2002