Besides an impressive array of machinery, we have an even more impressive team of textile specialists. Look around to see which of our specialists can help you during your working period in the TextielLab.
Karen Zeedijk, Tufting and Passementerie Specialist
Karen is multitalented when it comes to crafts. She trained as a furniture maker, then worked for five years as a glass artist specialising in stained glass. In 2004, she joined the TextielLab as a tufting specialist, making hand-tufted works in collaboration with professional makers. In 2012, she expanded her expertise to include passementerie techniques. Karen uses her broad experience to effortlessly translate a maker’s ideas into unique works, without losing sight of the maker’s distinct signature. She is also able to come up with creative solutions within the limits of a technique that serve the design. Karen previously worked with well-known artists such as Robert Zandvliet and Otobong Nkanga. Another good example is her collaboration with fashion designer Jan Taminiau. For his first couture show in Paris, Karen developed a refined tufted dress, a remarkable achievement given that tufting is generally used only for heavy rugs.
Hester Onijs, tufting specialist
Hester studied textile design at TeHaTex and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. She then worked as a weaving and design assistant at Studio Anne Mieke Kooper and Atelier Barbara Broekman. In 2004, she switched to a new textile technique, joining the TextielLab as a tufting specialist. She makes hand-tufted works in collaboration with professional makers. She dyes most of her own tufting yarns herself in the lab. Thanks to her background in design, she is skilled at determining the essence of a design and realising this with the designer. During the design process – from sketch to three-dimensional tufted object – she makes sometimes unusual suggestions for the creation of texture and use of materials and colour. Each tapestry or rug Hester makes tells a story. She has worked with makers such as Otobong Nkanga, Lizan Freijsen, Esther Dorhout Mees and Krijn de Koning.
