The association De Fil en Fil is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the endangered cultural heritage of traditional weaving.
We do not have a production-oriented mission but rather one of promotion, transmission, and enhancement of ancestral knowledge. We also aim to inform and raise awareness about the value of textiles and the issue of waste.
Our workshop is a place for knowledge sharing, conviviality, and kindness.
We provide access to our facilities and mentor personal projects in the field of weaving and textiles (artists, HEAD students, etc.).
The dedication and energy of our volunteers enable us to fulfill the mission of our association.
For a long time it was a distant dream, which finally became a concrete project thanks to four Geneva-based weavers with a passion for textile art. Motivated by the desire to pass on skills that were being lost, they set about creating a weaving and textile art workshop open to the public.
Creation of the non-profit association ‘De Fil en Fil’.
We receive the excellent news that we have been granted a studio on the bd Helvétique, and move in on the 4th of September.
Opening of the workshop to the public with free SAORI weaving workshops.
Official inauguration of the workshop by the Mayor of Geneva, Mr Alfonso Gomez. The path is opened up for numerous textile projects and collaborations.
Explore our range of activities and choose the one that best suits your interests and skill level. Whether you're a beginner or experienced, we have a course for you.
Once you've found the perfect course, book your slot for the session of your choice.
The description of the course or workshop you have chosen will give you all the information you need about the teacher, the prerequisites, and how your experience with us will unfold.
If you would like us to help you with individual projects or personal coaching, please contact the workshop and we will be happy to provide you with further information.
If you would like us to help you with individual projects or personal coaching, please contact the workshop and we will be happy to provide you with further information.
The De Fil en Fil workshop aims to preserve the ancestral tradition of hand weaving. Our teaching activities, open to all, will keep the savoir faire alive to produce valuable, unique and original fabrics.
Through workshops which recycle used textiles, we aim to raise awareness among children and adults of our consumption habits. The impact of the textile industry is disastrous, both environmentally and socially.
Weaving is a way out of isolation, and has the ability to facilitate exchanges between people from different walks of life . It has a beneficial effect on health, both physical and mental, and helps to develop individual creativity. We offer a welcoming and caring environment that is accessible to all.
Join our team as a teacher and share your passion for textile art in all its forms
The City of Geneva's programme to encourage societal innovation
Join our association to support and develop the workshop's activities. The membership fee is CHF 30 per year.
Jelena is an entrepreneur in the field of training and education. She is an engineer with a doctorate in computer science from EPFL, and a member of the Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences (SATW).
She loves craft weaving and is interested in all the techniques, which she learns regularly in the workshop with great enthusiasm.
After spending thirty years restoring paintings, I fell into textiles. Sewing, embroidery and knitting have always interested me. Wool spinning and weaving came into my life twenty years ago, when my husband and I took over a family estate in Norway and raised a few sheep. I first taught myself how to process wool and then, to improve my skills, I joined a group of peasant weavers who met weekly. I'm particularly interested in traditional wool and linen techniques, and I use my wools dyed with plants and mushrooms to produce textiles for the home and for clothing.
Véronica Segovia B. holds a CFC in Clothing Design, and has a keen interest in textile refurbishment. Over the last fifteen years, she has acquired expertise in the field of stage costumes. Her values and skills have led her to explore an ethical and ecological approach in the creation of her costumes.
She was the first costume designer to receive a cultural grant from the Leenaards Foundation. This has enabled her to continue training in patina techniques, dyeing, textile experimentation and the knitting machine. Véronica is currently training to make the most of sheep's wool, an invaluable fibre that has been relegated to the status of waste for over two decades.
Fripe, artistic experimentation, shared stock, craft curiosity and bartering are just some of the alternatives that fuel her creativity and lead her to a wealth of collaborations.
After the meeting of an elderly lady weaver, I started weaving as a teenager, as a self-taught enthusiast. After a long break, I stumbled across an ARM loom at a flea market! I immediately started weaving again with the desire to learn a bit more; so I started training as a weaver at Filambule with Danièle Mussard. I've finished the course and feel I've got everything to discover! Now I'll be able to take the time to learn more, experiment and explore this infinite world of yarns, materials and colours... with enthusiasm!
Bérénice Courtin is a multidisciplinary artist, born in 1994 in Paris, currently based in Geneva following her Master's degree in Contemporary Applied Arts at the Massana school in Barcelona, and a Master's degree at HEAD, Geneva. She focuses on textile arts, audiovisual and performance art. For the last four years, she has been working on research into the story of her grandfather Kazimierz Gaca. He was a Polish resistance fighter during the Second World War, working with the ENIGMA machine. She made fabrics with a Jacquard digital loom (TC2), where she hid́ codes, inspired by encrypted messages, comparing the loom and the machine, both being at the origin of the computer and the binary code. She has also collaborated with artists to create an experimental film performance on this subject that was shown at the La Alternativa festival at Barcelona's CCCB. Her Digital Jacquard installation was exhibited for three months in 2023 at the Centre Pompidou in Metz, in the Capsule du Musée.
She is currently preparing an exhibition for Milan Design Week 2024, with a sculpture and interactive textile project, combining crafts and new technologies, funded by the European Union Commission.
Natalia Solomatine was born in Moscow and trained as an industrial and product designer at the University of Applied Sciences in Geneva. She went on to study ethnographic costume techniques, vegetable dyes and weaving. For 20 years, she was an HES lecturer in the Fashion Design department at HEAD. She has given courses, seminars and conferences all over the world.
‘Shirts did not exist in Antiquity. The traditional shirt-like dress of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans (kalasyris, chiton and tunic) also served as an outer dress. In cold weather, two robes were worn one on top of the other, without the under-dress being considered undergarments. ("Encyclopedie illustée du Costume et de la Mode, by Ludmila Kybalova, Olga Herbenova, Milena Lamarova, preface by Claude-Salvy. Grund Edition)
Thanks to a collaboration that Nathalia carried out in 2019 with Isabelle Raboud-Schuelle, currently curator of the Musée Gruerien. She was able to acquire knowledge about costume in the Vaud and Fribourg regions. She is using Isabelle Raboud-Schuelle's research and articles to help you cut the blue Peasant Blouse.
I discovered spinning in New Zealand in the 1970s. When I returned to Switzerland, I set up a workshop in Meyrin, where for many years I passed on my passion for yarn, beautiful threads, varied fibres and vegetable dyes. I'm a member of the Swiss Spinners' Group, which regularly organises weekends of training, exchanges and friendship.
In 2017 I created my brand, ‘Les créations de Kun’, for which I design and make mainly women's clothing, one-off pieces or mini collections. In my work, I try to give back the soul to all of these fabrics and give them a new life. I also do a lot of embroidery, because embroidery is like drawing on fabric.
My work is at the crossroads of contemporary Western fashion and traditional Chinese craftsmanship. That's why I'm so interested in MEG's collections of clothing and textile objects, from Asia and elsewhere. Being in contact with them would be an invaluable source of inspiration for me, one that could deeply nourish my creativity.
BA(Hons) Degree in textile Design Weave Specialism Chelsea College of Art, UAL
I am a weaver and textile artist whose work focuses on the reuse and recycling of waste materials to create intriguing and unusual pieces that play with form and colour. I enjoy the interplay between the saturated colours of discarded packaging materials like paper, plastic or foils and the sophisticated ones derived from working with plant-based dyes.
In 2011 I discovered my love of weaving whilst studying for a degree in Textile Design at Chelsea College of Art. Having never worked on a loom before, I quickly discovered the joy of creating cloth; optically mixing colours through different yarn combinations, rising to challenges presented by the loom and toying with the boundaries of what could be achieved within the given constraints.
My position as Textiles Technician at Bradford School of Art helped to cultivate my skills as an educator and enabled me to continue to professionally develop my creative skills, enhancing my technical weaving know-how and gaining skills in printed textiles and repeat design.
In my home studio practice I enjoy taking the time to nurture and evolve my artistic identity through exploratory and inquisitive sampling and experimentation, testing ideas on the loom and gathering inspiration from my surroundings.
Ilona Sultanova, feutrière, originaire du Kirghizstan où elle s’est initiée aux techniques traditionnelles et contemporaines du feutrage de la laine. C’est auprès de communautés féminines des artisans qu’elle a développé ses connaissances et son savoir-faire.
A Genève, elle transmet son savoir-faire artisanal aux adultes et aux enfants depuis 2018.
Nous plongeons dans un univers qui éveille les sens à travers le toucher, l’élément eau et les fibres, et nous invite à réaliser une création unique lors d’un atelier.
www.kyrgyzway.com
Trained in contemporary tapestry at Madame Noailles Lascaux's workshop in Paris.
Brigitte Frank taught creative tapestry for 20 years as part of the Ecole et Quartier association in Versoix and the canton of Vaud.
Brigitte Frank has had numerous solo exhibitions, and group exhibitions with her students in Switzerland and France:
November 2022: ‘Ensemble’ exhibition (5 women artists) in Geneva (Chênes-Bougeries, le Nouveau Vallon)
- September 2020 in Ajaccio (Corsica) at the Galerie Aux Arts etc...
- October 1991 in Cologny, ‘La pinède’ Geneva.
- July 1988 in Nernier, Galerie du Lac (France)
- October 1988 in Founex (Vaud)
- May 1986, group exhibition in Ferney-Voltaire, Galerie des Jargilières.
- June 1983 at ‘La Coppetane’ Coppet (Vaud)
