Meet the artist Studio Alba

MEET THE ARTIST

STUDIO ALBA

Tuftage, Bordeaux (33)

Alba shares her journey with us, and how working with wool became an obvious choice for her to express her art.

See his Artist page All wall decorations

Tell us your story, how did your vocation come to you?

I have always been drawn to drawing and crafts. I have studied and worked in various creative fields, including fashion and interior design.
After completing a general course in visual design, I studied shoe design and pattern making at the Institut Colbert in Cholet, then worked in the field, both in design and manufacturing. Later, I trained in interior design and worked as a color consultant for the French company Ressource.

During these years, I developed a particular affinity for colors and materials, especially textiles, and my interest in design, decoration, and interior architecture continued to grow. I therefore created Studio Alba to dedicate myself to my artistic world. Wool was a natural choice as my working medium because of the texture and relief it offers, and because of the many techniques associated with it.

Today, I mainly work with wool using the tufting technique to create paintings and tapestries, but always in search of discoveries, I also explore other materials such as paint or clay to enrich my work.

How would you describe your style, your artistic approach, in a few words?

What I love most is working with materials. I imagine graphic compositions with structured lines, in which abstract and colorful forms interact with the texture of the materials. Blending art and craft, I primarily work with wool using various tools, playing with textures, shapes, and colors to give substance and depth to my paintings and tapestries.

While the majority of my works are made with tufted wool, my thirst for exploration and my attraction to craftsmanship and the physical act of making also lead me to experiment with linocut, ceramics, and painting. Each technique has a particular look, texture, and relief inherent to the material, which, combined with graphic compositions, appeals to both the senses of sight and touch.

What themes or subjects inspire you most in your work?

I draw inspiration from primitive art, primitive forms, architecture, and landscapes, whose lines I decompose and deconstruct to create abstract assemblages in a search for balance of forms.

How do you work?

I work from home, in my Bordeaux apartment, which I've converted into a studio. Whatever the final medium of the artwork, I always start by creating a mood board. This mood board serves as a reference for making sketches, which I often envision as a series. I then transfer these sketches onto my canvas, or I cut out templates of the shapes before working with the materials.

I create series of works based on my current research, but I also work on commission for personalized and tailor-made projects that adapt to your desires and your space.

Do you have a particular technique, a specific expertise? Without revealing all your secrets, have you developed your own methods and techniques?

Tufting (or hand tufting) is a modern rug-making technique derived from weaving and originating in Asia. This artisanal practice has become widely popular in recent years. It involves inserting threads into a backing fabric stretched over a frame using a tufting gun. The rug is then glued on the back to secure it, and the front is cut and sculpted to create texture and attractive finishes.
Tufting offers great creative freedom and allows for the creation of pieces that are as diverse as each other by playing with shapes, colors, materials, textures and reliefs.

Tell us about your daily life, your constraints, your joys, your successes…

I don't really have a work routine; I alternate between intense creative phases and phases of reflection, daydreaming... There's also a whole administrative and communication side that takes up a lot of time, and it's by far the most difficult part.
Being your own boss requires a lot of time and organization, it sometimes raises many doubts and fears, but it is an intense and exciting experience, where every small success is a source of joy and pride!

See his Artist page All wall decorations