Can you share a bit about your artistic journey and what inspires your work? What made you start working with felt? When did you start working with felt?
Growing up in Hungary, I explored many fiber arts from an early age. I found joy figuring out how to weave, knit, sew, bead, make lace, etc., without any guidance, just playing with the materials. First I encountered felting as a teenager. My first project was an epic failure, and I was so disappointed, I never wanted to work with wool again.
When I was in my mid-twenties, I was asked to teach children how to felt. I sat down with a friend and a book and learnt the basics of the craft. The fibers we had access to were quite coarse and very limited in colors. It was still not something to touch my heart. But a few weeks after this event I encountered the combination of soft merino wool, fine silks and deep hand-dyed colors. Once I met these high quality fine materials and understood the potential of the felting technique - which is basically limitless - was super inspiring. This was the moment when I fell in love with felting, and I gave up pursuing other crafts.
In the first part of my career I mostly created wearable art, hats, scarves and garments. In recent years I became more interested in creating large dimensional felted wall art.
Do you have any upcoming projects or works in progress that you'd like to share with our community? This could be what other things do you like to make with felt? What other mediums have you worked with? What's next for you?
My work is seasonal - the winter months are my creative time when I develop new projects. I enjoy developing technically challenging pieces like seamlessly felted fitted garments, small detailed felted jewelry or seamless, functional bags with many pockets.
When spring comes I start traveling: I teach internationally and online and I organize and lead Felt Tours in Hungary annually.
For more information on Fiora and her work, visit www.florafelts.com.