North Carolina-based textile artist Jess Feury joins us this week to discuss her Rock Slab collection of woven pillows. Drawing inspiration from antique textiles, unorthodox materials, and the world around her in all of her work – including her hand-crafted clothing and jewelry – this particular collection is a celebration of organic patterns found within natural objects.
Raymond Paul Schneider: When did you first start to develop this new collection?
Jess Feury: I first started designing and weaving the Rock Slab pillows while living in the Bay Area in CA, 8 years ago. Living in CA for 2 decades allowed me to be immersed in nature from the Yuba River to the Marin Headlands to the Mojave Desert. In each of these magical settings, my eye became drawn to the patterns within the rocks, rivers, plants, and mountains.
RPS: What was the overall timeline from conception to achieving the final design?
JF: Timeline was pretty fast! The design just came as I sat down at the loom. The many hikes, wild nature walks, and time spent in the outdoors seemed to crystallize into a tangible form through the Rock Slab pillows.
RPS: What was your initial inspiration, and where did the idea(s) come from?
JF: I am inspired by nature, folk art, and beautiful old things. As a child, I had a rock collection and rock tumbler and was excited about how you could take a raw mineral and transform it into a new form. The Rock Slab pillows were borne out of my love for rocks and minerals and the inherent organic design within natural objects.
RPS: Please describe your overall creative and design process.
JF: My approach to the creative process has always been organic and impulsive. It has always felt like the work has to just come out. I do not sit down and draw designs before starting a piece. I literally pick up a color of fiber and start. Each last color informs the next color I choose and the next shape I weave into the work. Over time, with repetition of the process and orders from interior, retail, and personal clientele, I have developed color stories to choose from in order to produce a “collection.” However, each pillow continues to be one of a kind and informed by the same organic process that has always been my approach to my work.
RPS: Did you have a specific audience or theme that you had in mind?
JF: Because I started weaving while I was also working full time as an art therapist, my work did not have to have the end result of a commercial product in mind. It started as a form of personal art exploration and thus, was able to find freedom in the process versus having the focus be an end result of a specific product. Once I left my art therapy career and became a full time textile artist, I knew I wanted a combination of clientele, retail, design and personal buyers. Now my focus is more on interiors and custom work. Some of my favorite clients to work with have been Kelly Wearstler, a small but incredible Asheville, NC-based design firm Shelter Collective, Oroboro Store in NYC, and person collectors. I would love to transition more into the art space while also maintaining design clients.
RPS: Please describe the methods, tools, and materials you used to develop and prototype this design?
JF: I use a combination of hand-dyed local fiber, interesting yarns found at estate sales, flea markets, and antique stores, and my signature material I use in all of my work is antique metal thread from the 1920’s. I use sustainable materials for most of my work. That is very important to me and my business ethos. Kind of like the found rocks that I would tumble into something new.
RPS: Did you utilize a new technique or technology to conceptualize this product?
JF: Every piece I make is handwoven by me and sewn into the final pillow by me.
RPS: Please describe any challenges that affected the design and perhaps steered you to an entirely new final design?
JF: The challenge I sometimes face is that fiber stretches and shrinks in different areas of the weaving process and also shrinks when taken off the loom. Because of this, it can be tricky to get the exact sizing ordered by an interior designer and takes math and patience, which are not my strengths!
RPS: Describe your overall brand DNA and Ethos
JF: My brand, like my work, has developed over time and organically. Since I am so closely tied to my work, I would say my personal ethos and my brand ethos are closely aligned. I believe in having integrity in life and in my work. For me, this means being authentic, paying attention to the way my footprint and my work is in relationship with the earth, always stretching personally and professionally by learning new things about myself, which in turn, directly impact my work. I have never felt like I am creating or selling a brand. I am just being me and making stuff. I have been super lucky that I have been able to also make a living while doing what I love. I do not take that for granted.
The Rock Slab Collection is available exclusively in New Jersey at the Mimi & Hill Design Shop, Westfield, NJ.
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