Vega Määttä

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I am a textile artist based in Stockholm where I live together with my husband and my 3-year-old son. In 2016 I graduated from Konstfack - university of arts, craft, and design. Since then I have been working as an artist with my own projects but also started a weaving artist group together with six other colleagues. Repurposing materials is at the core of my artistic practice.

What was your early motivation to express your creativity through weaving?

My interest in weaving came late during my art and craft education. I had learned basic weaving through classes at art school but never really got hooked. In my graduation project, I was searching for a way to make textile art that didn't have a negative impact on the environment and decided to use reeds that I harvested from a lake outside of Stockholm. I did some experimenting and decided that weaving was the best technique to use in this project. That was the first time I used weaving in a big project. I was very happy with the result and since then I have continued exploring weaving.

How would you describe your practices?

I create art made out of recycled materials and materials taken directly from nature. I choose materials that have little or no economic value. My work is a response to the modern pressure to consume all that is new by looking at what is already available to us. For example, I can use a piece of fabric from used clothes that were only worn for one season before being discarded, reeds that grow like weeds in every lake, plastic from packaging, or small bits of yarn leftovers from earlier projects. In all of these otherwise unwanted items, as an artist, I have the ability to find their inherent value, to reassess and transform it. Weaving is the technique that I have been using the most for the last few years but my practise also includes other techniques. I'm always searching for potential materials in my surroundings, and the material dictates what technique I use. I try to be open-minded when looking at different discarded materials so I can really find what their qualities are. That is the best way of discovering their potential and repurposing materials in my opinion.

What is the process and the thinking behind your pieces?

As I said before I always search for materials in my surroundings and try to discover their potential. That includes purely functional and aesthetic values but also what I associate the material with and what feelings and thoughts it evokes. I often start experimenting with a material and start working on something before the idea behind the finished piece is clear. My thought process and the process of making something with my hands are often parallel. One example is my Rya-pieces made from discarded clothes. I think of these woven pieces as halfway between the peak of a full bloom and a slow decay. The materials in the pieces symbolize transience in contrast to more lasting values. The base of the weaves is made from a natural material that is easily decomposed by nature. The knots are made from second-hand blouses and shawls mostly made from polyester. A rejected material that can never be decompose and disappear. In the process of making these Rya-pieces I was inspired by vanitas paintings from the 19th century depicting wilting flowers, skulls, and other things that were supposed to remind us of life's transience. With the thoughts of these paintings in my head I visited different second-hand stores searching for interesting materials as I often do. It was springtime and the stores were filled with blouses and dresses with flower patterns and made from sheer materials. Most of the garments were made from polyester. Despite the seductive patterns and colors it was ugly that they existed in such big numbers and for a very low price. To me, they seemed to symbolize the same thing as the wilting flowers and the skulls in the paintings, something that is beautiful but at the same time overripe and rotten.

We know that you are repurposing textiles for your art. Can you please share your thoughts on why it is so important to create more consciously and stop perpetuating key issues?

It is obvious that we have to rethink how we use our resources today. The textile industry is very bad for the environment but I think that people in general and also us artists should have the mindset of repurposing and using environmentally friendly methods ingrained in our acting and thinking. I would like to think that artists can inspire other people or provoke thoughts that make them think and act differently.

Can you share your thoughts on the benefits of working with your hands, and how it affects your well-being?

I have always been doing some kind of art or craft for as long as I can remember. It’s a big part of who I am so it's hard to describe how it affects my well-being. I guess doing art and craft is central for my well-being because that is what interests me the most in life apart from spending time with my loved ones. I think there are many people who could benefit from working more with their hands, because it's a different way of thinking and using your brain compared to sitting in front of the computer for example.

How important is the power of being, learning together, supporting each other, and developing weaving projects with members of our community?

The way I have experienced the benefit of working together with other people is mostly from being part of my artist group Studio Supersju. We started working together in 2016. We thought that it would be easier for us to reach out and create a name for ourselves as a group and it has proven to be true. To make a living from creating art and crafted pieces is hard, you have to be good at so many different things but in the group, everyone contributes with different knowledge and skills. Working together with Studio Supersju has been a bit like studying. In every project we do I learn something new from my colleagues about communication, a certain technique or material, or just how to plan things. Working in this group has been important for my artistic development.

Do you believe that crafts can lead to social change, particularly concerning sustainability and ecological behaviours?

I think that with knowledge about crafts comes an understanding of the value of different resources. You can understand the time it takes to produce things and then start questioning how different things can be so cheap. Learning a craft also teaches you to recognise when something is of good or bad quality. When you can walk into a clothes store, feel the materials and recognise bad quality it makes you more resistant to buying those cheap garments that have been produced in a way that is not sustainable. I also think that we as individuals can learn how to live more sustainably by looking back at how people in the past used craft to repurpose and make things last longer.

What upcoming projects make you excited right now?

Right now I'm working on a large commissioned artwork for a public building in Stockholm together with Studio Supersju. It's exciting because it's our biggest art commission so far and for a very well-known building. The artwork is going to be unveiled in June 2023. I'm also preparing for a series of weaving workshops that will take place in different squares around Stockholm in the summer. The idéa is to work together with people from these different neighborhoods and weave a big artwork in a technique called rya from second-hand material. The result of the workshops is going to be shown in an exhibition on a square in the center of Stockholm.