Marion Plaçais founded her eponymous textile craft studio in 2019
after almost a decade of exploring the art of weaving. She specialises
in hand-weaving techniques and attempts to bring
a deeply traditional artisanal method into the modern age.

 “I have the ambition to bring the ancestral method up-to-date,”
she explains, and goes on to explain that she hopes to do so
by increasing the level of customisation in the work
and using the utmost sustainable methods and materials.

Atelier Marion Plaçais is situated in the French town of Nantes.
Each piece that is produced by the studio is a unique artwork
that is intended for decoration or creating a specific
atmosphere in a space.

 The collection of work that is included in the Cluster Crafts online exhibition and can be purchased via the Cluster online store
is a series the Méristème collection, which is composed of woven textiles
and wooden objects. This highly decorative work is part of research
into functional objects, such as lighting and furniture. She mixes the wood and the textile fibres, preferring the organic materials such as linen,
cotton and wool.

“Ever since I began weaving wood, I have always been captivated
by how the weaving makes a material more flexible this is why
the combination of rich textures and patterns are constantly inspiring
me to create unique designs,” she says. “Without one dominating
the other, the two elements intersect and structure each other
in a search for beauty and functionality.”

Plaçais’s use of traceable materials is her comment on the ecological
and economic pressures and challenges that we face. She also produces and uses her own vegetable dyes, working with whatever
is available at certain times of year.

“It is thus according to the seasons that my ranges of colours
are articulated. I try as much as possible to respect the rhythm of nature. The shades are therefore variable according to the atmospheric conditions. I like this randomness in my work. This contrasts
with the very mathematical and structured aspect of weaving.”

Plaçais looks to the rich history of weaving in order to find inspiration
for her contemporary work.

Here is another of our Cluster artists who is highly
inspired by traditional crafts. Based in Tokyo, Japan,
artist Azu Kimura creates artwork and multidimensional sculptures using locally sourced materials.
In her student days, Kimura had focused on woodwork, but after completing her degree at Musashino Art University, she worked for an interior design company and was in charge of flower displays in the showroom, an art form known as Ikebana.

Working with these living displays altered Kimura’s direction as an artist and she became fascinated
by the philosophies and aesthetics of Ikebana.

Kimura began to refer to herself as a flower artist and incorporated
other plant materials into her work. She would walk around Tokyo daily, looking for small artefacts in nature that she could weave into her art.
She also makes observations of the natural world,
reflections that translate into her unusual sculptures.

Throughout her practice there is a connection
to the concept of change, life cycles
and the seasonal adaptations in nature.

Kimura’s most recent collections looks at the relationship between humans and plants, attempting to recognise
the reactions that plants cause in us.