Mathilde Vandenbussche

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm Mathilde. I'm a knit specialist, based in Antwerp, Belgium, where I have my studio. If there is something I´d like to share about myself is the fact that I really love knitting in any possible way.

How did you become a textile designer? Why did you specifically turn your attention to knitting?

When I was little I used to go to textiles and creative after-school classes. These classes had a very free approach and back then, I was introduced to lacemaking, felting, drawing, and painting. As far as I remember I've always been drawn to working with my hands, so when I was 18 I didn't have to think about which path to choose. It was a very straightforward decision to go to study textiles. I turned to knitting in the last year of my master's degree and I think it just happened accidentally. While investigating and developing ideas, I was intrigued by knitting and really liked the complexity of it, but also its boundaries and the way that not everything is possible but at the same time everything is possible.

What is the process and the thinking behind your designs?

If I look at my process, I would say it´s very technical. I have to investigate certain techniques and certain materials/ yarns and how they work together. Since I'm not making finished things, my process doesn't include mood boards and it doesn't look like a regular design process. What I love about my process is the chance to work with different machines, from very old to very new, industrial, and so on. I usually go back and forth with it.

Maybe I have one technique and then I try it with all the different machines, compare them, and play around. I think technique is my guideline and I wouldn't consider myself a designer but more of an educator and researcher.

What and who inspires you?

I think my answer would be a bit connected to the previous one. I'm really inspired by the techniques themselves. Here in Belgium, I have some projects in development about very old machines. I'm investigating old machines from the 19th century. I think that this gives me huge inspiration and knitting itself inspires me a lot.

Tell us more about the knitting workshops you host and your teaching approach.

I think I have been teaching now for about six years. I used to do it while working in different companies or museums, where people needed to bring their machines for the classes. But for the past three years, I´ve been hosting my own workshops. I have my own space and machines, and I'm having control over all the aspects, which I prefer, to be honest. I teach both workshops for beginners, but also for advanced practitioners. The people that attend my classes come from a big variety of backgrounds. Sometimes it's a granny, sometimes it's just regular hobby people, but sometimes it's also professional people who want to incorporate knitting into their work, or maybe they have like a little knitting company so they want to learn more about knitting. For instance, last week the owners of an alpaca farm who are making their own yarn, have attended my workshops and felt very nice to be a part of that.

I try to make my classes as complete as possible and to talk about what is knitting and its possibilities. I don't teach how to design a sweater, because I feel like it's not up to me to tell people how a sweater should look. I just want to tell them how they can understand a machine, and what is possible, encourage them to make small experiments, try different yards, and get comfortable with the techniques. So yeah that's how my classes go.

Can you share more about your interest in developing strong bonds with your community through teaching?

I think you have to like teaching, which I do, so that's one check on the list. The second reason is that I'm very passionate about knitting, and that´s why I love sharing knowledge about it. I have seen within the field, but also in other industries, that there are so many techniques that are getting lost because the people who hold that particular knowledge, die. It's really a shame. I think especially with techniques, they're open source. I'm very aware that these knitting techniques are disappearing and that in 50 years it might be all gone, and honestly, I wanna save it. I also believe that it is very beneficial to pass down all this knowledge to the new generations.

We know you're involved in product development at the Textile Museum in Tilburg. Please tell us more about this experience.

I work as a product developer at TextielMuseum, which is in Tilburg, Netherlands. Within the museum, we have the TextielLab, which has a knitting department with flatbed knitting machines (industrial Stoll machines) and circular knitting machines (Mayer and Cie). We work together with artists, designers, and makers in developing their work using these machines. We try to focus on unique projects and art pieces so we don't really do production but deep development. I think that for knitting, our specialty is 3D knitting. I specialise in working on circular knitting machines.

This is a very fine machine with very fine needles that have a lot of details. The projects really vary from working with students to working with more established artists from around the world.

So when this happens, you relocate?

I work two and a half days over there, and then two and a half days here in my studio. It's about 50-50.

You´ve mentioned on your website that “ the interaction between craft and industrial work is very important.” Can you share your thoughts on the intersection between these two worlds and why is so important?

I think that industrial work is also a craft in a way. I know that there are people who might not agree, but for me, crafts are also about a way of thinking, a way of developing something, and a way of using certain techniques. During my studies, I realised that there was a very big gap between art students, designers, makers, and technicians. For example, very often fashion students have a vision in their mind and have been trained to invent the craziest things, but then they completely forget about the craft parts or the technique part. I think it's such a shame that there is a huge gap between these two worlds and it would be nice to get them a bit closer. But also the other way around that. So if the technician could understand a bit more about creativity and experimentation, and about “thinking out of the box”, maybe it could help close a bit more the gap.

In the textile lab where Im working, we really don't have a gap, because we are all in one. We are the product developers, we are the technicians, and we are the artists in one person. So that's obviously the goal.

What is your vision for a responsible, resilient, and human-focused future, within the textile world?

I think there are many answers to that, but I believe that knowledge is a very good way to start. When people know how things are made they are going to buy less, and of course, this is a gradual change, but I really do think that it can help. For example, there is so much research about what is an eco-friendly yarn, durable yarn, but the downside is that we are still producing too much with this yarn as well, so I think we really have to shift our mind. I think it´s not just about changing the products, and the yarns, but the whole system.

What upcoming projects make you excited right now?

One project that I'm very excited about is related to an old knitting machine. It is a subsidy that I have, which is called "a master teacher". We are with two students (myself and Anse Heesterman, a textile designer from Sint-Niklaas). Our teacher, Walter Vermeulen, has a long history of working in the knitting industry in Belgium. Every Monday we come together in the Knitting Museum of Sint-Niklaas, where we have a huge collection of old and new knitting machines: Sock Knitting machines, flatbed machines, circular machines, both electronic and mechanical.) The oldest machines are from the 20s, the latest machine is from around 2014.

We practise on the machines different knitting techniques to make sure we are keeping the knowledge and heritage.