It was always pretty clear to me that I wanted to study something creative. With the goal of wanting to make a living out of a creative career, I decided to study graphic design at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. After finishing my studies, I landed my first real job in graphic design in 2018. I worked at a brand design agency for several commercial clients, designing identities, printed matter and websites.
During this period, I learned a lot about being creative on a schedule, as clients need their deliverables by a deadline. This is something that definitely helped me in the long run when I started my own business.
Unfortunately, at the beginning of 2020, the pandemic hit and I wasn’t able to work full time at the agency anymore. With my hours cut back to three days a week — and no social activities to attend — just like everyone else, I suddenly had a lot of spare time on my hands.
Looking for a way to blow off steam during this stressful period, I decided I wanted to start crafting. After doing some research, I found out about punch needling, an embroidery technique. Looking for a way to pass the time, I lost myself in this new craft, working on projects from my living room couch, making fun experimental designs, stitch by stitch. I started working on making 40-centimeter-by-40-centimeter squares, which I turned into cushions.
After sharing some photos of my first cushions on Instagram, I got so many positive reactions! There were even people who asked me if I was able to make them a cushion — but considering that each cushion would take me 8 to 10 hours to make, I didn’t see how I would be able to price them.
That’s when I found out about tufting, which would speed up this process. Rug tufting is a technique for rug making in which a thread is inserted through a primary backing fabric. I use a machine called a tufting gun, which is operated by hand to insert the thread for a certain design. This allowed me to work on bigger projects.
When I bought my first tufting gun, I had no idea what the best way to use it would be. The machine was very intimidating at first, as it’s very fast, loud, heavy and sharp. There also wasn’t as much information online on tufting as there is today. So, as tufting turned into my new obsession, I would spend a lot of time scouring the internet for bits of information on how to master this technique.
After a lot of trial and error, and trying out many different kinds of materials and ways to work, I taught myself how to tuft. As a graphic designer, I had the skill set to lay the foundation for my new business, and I created a brand identity and a webshop to start selling my new work.
With a lot of support from friends and family, a couple of features in local magazines, and a lot of luck, I was able to sell my first works and land a couple of commissions for custom projects. A little over a year after discovering tufting, I had enough assignments lined up to take the leap and quit the graphic design job to start working on my own business full time.
Making the switch from working digitally as a graphic designer to working with textiles allowed me to create tactile and textured work. Whereas my graphic design work would either be digital or maybe printed in a booklet, my textile artworks are sculpted by my own hands and every strand of yarn needs to be cut to precision. Working with textiles allows the straight lines and clear shapes to loosen up — you can only tame wool a certain amount. This way, an extra layer is added to my work, which gives every piece a truly handmade feel.
For the last three years, I’ve been able to work in my mom’s old atelier, located in the garden of my childhood home. It’s my own little bubble and a nice, quiet place to work. With nice weather, I open the doors of my atelier toward the garden; and if the two chickens, Madonna and Hokie, are feeling brave enough, they will come by and say hi.
I often invite people to my atelier to come and brainstorm a new custom work, so they can see the colours of the wool and feel all materials up close. I make work that can be touched, and more details are discovered when seeing and touching the work in real life.
Graphic design and illustration are still a big part of my process. I normally start sketching out ideas on paper. Most of the time, I start with finding the right shapes by making the same sketch over and over again — with minor changes in shapes and composition — to explore what option looks best to me. Then I transfer the sketch to my computer, where I refine the shapes and start playing with colours. The result is a digital illustration of what the tufted work is going to look like. This is also the illustration I share with the customer before I start tufting the work.
To start tufting, I stretch the polyester backing fabric on my frame, and I transfer the digital design to this fabric. I have to mirror the image, as with tufting you work from the back.
Then the tufting can begin!
I use several different machines to get the desired effect. For the low-tufted cut pile, I have an electric machine, which is fairly light and easy to work with. For higher pile, in cut or loop, I use a pneumatic tufting machine, which has a hose attached to an air compressor. This way, the air can blow out the yarn through the needle, which makes it possible to reach a higher pile. When tufting, I first trace the outline of the shapes, and then start filling in with lines to create an even pile on the front.
Before starting with the next section of the work, I first need to trim the part I just worked on. I use a dog shearing tool and scissors to even out the pile and clean up the edges of the tufted section. This way, the next section I tuft will look nice and clean.
When the work is finished, I need to glue the backing so all yarn strands are fixed into place. After leaving it to dry overnight, walking into the atelier in the morning is always exciting, as I get to take off all of the finished works and frame them.
I love to share my process online! Tufting is very satisfying — both to do and to look at — which makes it very fun to share. Showing bits and pieces of my favourite parts of the process through daily Instagram stories, and receiving immediate feedback, gives my work even more depth and makes more people involved in the end result. I can really lose myself in the process of tufting as it is a very meditative act.
It took quite some time to really embrace my style and the work I’m good at. Ever since art academy, I have been doing a self-initiated project, which I call the “hundred poster project.” I would create boundaries for myself to work with, such as A3 size and digital, and I would create one poster a day for a hundred days straight. I’ve done about four rounds of these now, the last of which really helped me define my style and the type of work I love to make.
The best thing is that it taught me to work on new ideas quickly without feeling the need to perfect them. I would give myself a maximum of an hour per day, and after that hour I had to accept what the end result was going to look like — whether I liked it or not. This way I created an archive to look back on, and pick ideas from, to develop future projects.
My work is driven by my passion to create and the joy I experience in doing so. I believe this also translates into my work, as I prefer to use bright colours in combination with big, bold and bouncy shapes. I love to hear when people say my work makes them feel happy!
Currently, Studio Mirte is going through big changes. Soon I will have to move out of my mom’s old atelier, and I will be moving into a small retail space. This will allow me to share my process even more, and to showcase my work in a gallery-like setting. Even though it’s the end of a chapter moving out of my old atelier, I’m looking forward to all the possibilities in the new space!
I’m also hoping to develop the world of Studio Mirte even further by translating my style into other products.
Recently, I made a series of cushions and I’m planning on creating more happy home decor alongside my unique, bespoke artworks.
It was always pretty clear to me that I wanted to study something creative. With the goal of wanting to make a living out of a creative career, I decided to study graphic design at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. After finishing my studies, I landed my first real job in graphic design in 2018. I worked at a brand design agency for several commercial clients, designing identities, printed matter and websites.
During this period, I learned a lot about being creative on a schedule, as clients need their deliverables by a deadline. This is something that definitely helped me in the long run when I started my own business.
Unfortunately, at the beginning of 2020, the pandemic hit and I wasn’t able to work full time at the agency anymore. With my hours cut back to three days a week — and no social activities to attend — just like everyone else, I suddenly had a lot of spare time on my hands.
Looking for a way to blow off steam during this stressful period, I decided I wanted to start crafting. After doing some research, I found out about punch needling, an embroidery technique. Looking for a way to pass the time, I lost myself in this new craft, working on projects from my living room couch, making fun experimental designs, stitch by stitch. I started working on making 40-centimeter-by-40-centimeter squares, which I turned into cushions.
After sharing some photos of my first cushions on Instagram, I got so many positive reactions! There were even people who asked me if I was able to make them a cushion — but considering that each cushion would take me 8 to 10 hours to make, I didn’t see how I would be able to price them.
That’s when I found out about tufting, which would speed up this process. Rug tufting is a technique for rug making in which a thread is inserted through a primary backing fabric. I use a machine called a tufting gun, which is operated by hand to insert the thread for a certain design. This allowed me to work on bigger projects.
When I bought my first tufting gun, I had no idea what the best way to use it would be. The machine was very intimidating at first, as it’s very fast, loud, heavy and sharp. There also wasn’t as much information online on tufting as there is today. So, as tufting turned into my new obsession, I would spend a lot of time scouring the internet for bits of information on how to master this technique.
After a lot of trial and error, and trying out many different kinds of materials and ways to work, I taught myself how to tuft. As a graphic designer, I had the skill set to lay the foundation for my new business, and I created a brand identity and a webshop to start selling my new work.
With a lot of support from friends and family, a couple of features in local magazines, and a lot of luck, I was able to sell my first works and land a couple of commissions for custom projects. A little over a year after discovering tufting, I had enough assignments lined up to take the leap and quit the graphic design job to start working on my own business full time.
Making the switch from working digitally as a graphic designer to working with textiles allowed me to create tactile and textured work. Whereas my graphic design work would either be digital or maybe printed in a booklet, my textile artworks are sculpted by my own hands and every strand of yarn needs to be cut to precision. Working with textiles allows the straight lines and clear shapes to loosen up — you can only tame wool a certain amount. This way, an extra layer is added to my work, which gives every piece a truly handmade feel.
For the last three years, I’ve been able to work in my mom’s old atelier, located in the garden of my childhood home. It’s my own little bubble and a nice, quiet place to work. With nice weather, I open the doors of my atelier toward the garden; and if the two chickens, Madonna and Hokie, are feeling brave enough, they will come by and say hi.
I often invite people to my atelier to come and brainstorm a new custom work, so they can see the colours of the wool and feel all materials up close. I make work that can be touched, and more details are discovered when seeing and touching the work in real life.
Graphic design and illustration are still a big part of my process. I normally start sketching out ideas on paper. Most of the time, I start with finding the right shapes by making the same sketch over and over again — with minor changes in shapes and composition — to explore what option looks best to me. Then I transfer the sketch to my computer, where I refine the shapes and start playing with colours. The result is a digital illustration of what the tufted work is going to look like. This is also the illustration I share with the customer before I start tufting the work.
To start tufting, I stretch the polyester backing fabric on my frame, and I transfer the digital design to this fabric. I have to mirror the image, as with tufting you work from the back.
Then the tufting can begin!
I use several different machines to get the desired effect. For the low-tufted cut pile, I have an electric machine, which is fairly light and easy to work with. For higher pile, in cut or loop, I use a pneumatic tufting machine, which has a hose attached to an air compressor. This way, the air can blow out the yarn through the needle, which makes it possible to reach a higher pile. When tufting, I first trace the outline of the shapes, and then start filling in with lines to create an even pile on the front.
Before starting with the next section of the work, I first need to trim the part I just worked on. I use a dog shearing tool and scissors to even out the pile and clean up the edges of the tufted section. This way, the next section I tuft will look nice and clean.
When the work is finished, I need to glue the backing so all yarn strands are fixed into place. After leaving it to dry overnight, walking into the atelier in the morning is always exciting, as I get to take off all of the finished works and frame them.
I love to share my process online! Tufting is very satisfying — both to do and to look at — which makes it very fun to share. Showing bits and pieces of my favourite parts of the process through daily Instagram stories, and receiving immediate feedback, gives my work even more depth and makes more people involved in the end result. I can really lose myself in the process of tufting as it is a very meditative act.
It took quite some time to really embrace my style and the work I’m good at. Ever since art academy, I have been doing a self-initiated project, which I call the “hundred poster project.” I would create boundaries for myself to work with, such as A3 size and digital, and I would create one poster a day for a hundred days straight. I’ve done about four rounds of these now, the last of which really helped me define my style and the type of work I love to make.
The best thing is that it taught me to work on new ideas quickly without feeling the need to perfect them. I would give myself a maximum of an hour per day, and after that hour I had to accept what the end result was going to look like — whether I liked it or not. This way I created an archive to look back on, and pick ideas from, to develop future projects.
My work is driven by my passion to create and the joy I experience in doing so. I believe this also translates into my work, as I prefer to use bright colours in combination with big, bold and bouncy shapes. I love to hear when people say my work makes them feel happy!
Currently, Studio Mirte is going through big changes. Soon I will have to move out of my mom’s old atelier, and I will be moving into a small retail space. This will allow me to share my process even more, and to showcase my work in a gallery-like setting. Even though it’s the end of a chapter moving out of my old atelier, I’m looking forward to all the possibilities in the new space!
I’m also hoping to develop the world of Studio Mirte even further by translating my style into other products.
Recently, I made a series of cushions and I’m planning on creating more happy home decor alongside my unique, bespoke artworks.
