Waste Materials

Claudy Jongstra is a textile artist whose work originates from her biodynamic farm in the northern Netherlands, where she keeps both a herd of rare Drenthe Heath sheep and a hortus botanicus of plants used in traditional dyeing techniques. She creates large-scale hanging installations from leftover wools, silks, and scraps, and collaborates with fashion designers, architects and locals. Her work centres on the need for preservation of both natural landscapes and traditional crafting methods such as carding and spinning, which are also part of the Netherlands’ traditional textile heritage.

Her 2010 New Material Award-winning project Waste Materials consists of a wall-hanging of merino wool, raw silk and leftover wool from her own sheep herd, coloured with yellow dye from the dyer’s weed plant, one of the plants in her dye botanical garden. Both activist statement and art piece, ‘Waste Materials’ is a circular design that showcases Dutch traditions and contemporary values.