How did your textile journey start?
I began as a fashion designer, right at the start of the fast fashion industry boom. I studied fashion at an art school in Utrecht, and launched my own label not tom dick & harry afterward, but… Shops were hesitant to buy from unknown designers, and fast fashion was rapidly taking over. Selling handmade pieces became increasingly challenging. I worked in the fashion industry for four years, producing countless collections each month, constantly under pressure.
What sparked your fascination with wool and its potential?
In the fashion industry, I found it unethical to use materials without knowing their origin or production conditions. I visited an exhibition on wool at the TextielMuseum in Tilburg. There was a nomadic yurt on display, and I was deeply moved by the idea that people had lived in those wool shelters for centuries. The qualities of wool – lightweight, warm, insulating, sound-absorbing – amazed me. What struck me most was that I had never truly seen this material before. How was that possible? It had so many unique properties. I left the fashion industry and began researching wool. I took a cleaning job in the evenings to support myself, experimenting for two years with the material. I started to see its incredible range of possibilities. And then I thought: is the world ready for wool?
Was the world ready for wool?
It was not! In the Netherlands, people considered wool “alternative”. I decided to go to a country where it was more appreciated. I thought it was the UK. In England, especially in London, people truly value textiles and colour – I think that it’s a strong part of their identity. I worked there with fashion designers, even contributing to a Star Wars Episode I – Phantom Menace film from 1999, working on the Jedi costumes. But back in the Netherlands, it really took me a long time to establish my studio.
What moments were crucial for the start of the studio?
I exhibited my smaller wool tapestries at Salone del Mobile in Milano. I had just a few design pieces, but some people saw the potential of wool in interiors. And then I made a list of the top five architects I wanted to work with and went to New York to present my work.
Who were the first architects to recognize the potential of your work and wool’s role in contemporary interiors?
It was Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects. When I knocked on their door in New York and explained my work, they found it fantastic, but had no projects to collaborate on at that time. Three years later, they called me and said, “We’re going to fight for you”. There was a project in New York at the Lincoln Center – a major collaboration with many people involved. I made two enormous wall tapestries for the David Rubenstein atrium there. That marked the beginning of our partnership, and since then, we’ve worked on many projects together. You always need a first project to show what you’re capable of!
You are not only a textile artist but also a farmer.
My architectural installations are handcrafted with regenerative wool and biodynamic plant-based colours. The whole mission of the studio is to bring awareness and to engage with nature and society. Here at De Kreake, our biodynamic farm, we have a holistic and ecological approach to farming that goes beyond the normal requirements of organic farming. The farm is expertly tended by my partner, Claudia Busson. You can find there beds of dye plants, flowers, herbs and vegetables, fruit trees, and pastures for a small flock of Drenthe Heath sheep. We work together with a shepherd of It Fryske Gea in Friesland, who is raising a bigger flock of sheep. The aim of our farm is to regenerate regional biodiversity and connect people with their material sources.
There is even another viewpoint on farming. In the beginning, we bought all the pigments – the colours could change with every season and also even in organic farming, chemicals can be found. It’s very good to have everything in-house. If we get a commission and someone requests a sample, we can produce it immediately.
The extension of your studio, the brand LOADS Collection, has focused on clothing and interior textiles since 2022. Does it share the same philosophy as your tapestries?
We have built all the infrastructure around the tapestries and started discussing the future. My youngest son, Jesk, suggested creating a brand focused on clothing and interior textiles with the same production principles. LOADS Collections are customized, made from healthy materials and manufactured in the Netherlands by social enterprises. We also want the LOADS Collection to become a platform for young designers, change-makers and education.
What are the materials LOADS Collection uses?
These pillows, for example, are filled with wool. They have covers made from SEKEM cotton from Egypt. The SEKEM initiative has helped over 10,000 farmers in Egypt’s Nile Delta shift to biodynamic, regenerative farming on more than 40,000 acres, reducing pesticides and water use on cotton fields and supporting local communities. LOADS Collection textiles are the first Demeter-certified biodynamic mono-fabrics, handcrafted with 100% traceable and biodegradable natural fibres and plant-based colours, cultivated on a gentle scale.
Do people value this visible network of production more now?
When I started working with wool thirty years ago, I faced the same challenges I'm now experiencing with LOADS Collection. There are frequent comparisons with mass producers – the whole world is so unified, all interiors look the same... Where is the curiosity to distinguish? But I think it changes with the new generation. There is the urge for change.
It feels like you manage to pass these values to the new generation.
Students from Central St. Martins, Polimoda, and other international schools came for a visit, for a week. We start at De Kreake, at our farm. They make their own bread for the whole week in a wood oven, they work on the farm, and then they come here to the LOADS building, and we do the whole chain of wool processing, its creative use and natural dyeing.
My goal is to introduce a different kind of curriculum: hands-on, rooted in activism, and based on sharing the working models we've developed over the past thirty years with the studio. It's about giving the students real tools. I strongly believe in countercurrents – creating local, autonomous alternatives to existing systems.
That’s an important value to pass on. Thank you for the interview.
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