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Portrait : Christian Carlier, artisan weaver from the heart of Bourbonnais.Meeting Christian Carlier, a weaver in Souvigny, at the heart of the Bourbonnais region.
Immersed in his daily life, where every stage of wool processing intertwines, I am warmly welcomed into the center of Christian Carlier’s home studio. Working in harmony with the moods of the sun, with the view of the horizon ; it is the inscription of rejection. A resistance to the overwhelming excess of a boundless world with its frenetic movement.
In his home, the invitation is to slow down, because every step requires care and attention.
To serve textiles means going beyond the fabric or the finished garment. Here, we are in the very act of creation.
Like the paper on which a letter is written, each step focuses us on the thread. From its raw state, to its spinning, to its winding and intertwining, the thread is essential in the metamorphosis of matter. All stages of transformation need time, space, as well as different tools and expertise.
Wool is a hollow fiber.
Before being spun, the fleeces are first carded and combed. By hand or with a drum carder, brushing separates the tangled fibers and roughly aligns them, clearing the impurities.
Due to harsh climatic conditions, the pashmina goat secretes a dense undercoat to protect itself from the cold. Christian Carlier honors the animal, cashmere, with his hands. He combines the same care to fibers such as alpaca, yak, merino wool and even plant fibers like nettle.
It is the gesture of the hands that determines the thickness of the yarn.
He begins the movement he learned on his own and I quietly observe the spinning wheel in motion. With a meticulous eye, the wheel drives the pulley, connected to the flyer. The free bobbin is slowed by the traction created through differences in speed. Indeed, the bobbin and the fly must rotate at slightly different subtle speeds, imperceptible to the naked eye, for the yarn to wind correctly onto the bobbin. This is known as Scotch tension spinning.
With three different wheels, he also uses a double drive spinning wheel.
Christian Carlier explains to me Irish tension spinning, where the bobbin is driven by the wheel and flyer, which is slowed down.
Bobbins, balls of yarn and skeins ; at markets, events and fairs, he is perceived as : « someone who fell from the moon ».
A magician of wool, perhaps his arts awaken in each of us a skill, a lost gesture, a forgotten breath, a buried knowledge. Covered over by a complex of outsourced, industrialized systems that hunger for cheap labor.
Perhaps it is the time to remember. To recall that not so long ago, like in most parts of the world, people in the West still spun and wove beneath the heart of every house.
To welcome, to honor without harming.
His textile creations are complex, composed of specific types of wool that shape the fabric with their relief, texture and pattern.
In a nearly silent meditation, I listen to the loom’s frames rise and fall. The thread of wool flows steadily in and out through the shed, gradually forming a chevron weave. Several panels, patiently woven, are needed to create a single unique piece. Tiring and painstaking work. We are not trying to save time ; it’s about sharing the present moment with awareness and humility.
It is in the darkest night that we can see the stars.
In a nearly silent meditation, I listen to the loom’s frames rise and fall. The thread of wool flows steadily in and out through the shed, gradually forming a chevron weave. Several panels, patiently woven, are needed to create a single unique piece. Tiring and painstaking work. We are not trying to save time ; it’s about sharing the present moment with awareness and humility.
It is in the darkest night that we can see the stars.
Our final exchange is painted on the path of weaving. On that road stands the presence of his guide : his wife, who passed on to him, the heart of textiles.
Honoring our ancestors, our traditions and thousands of years of craftsmanship, which is far more than interlaced threads. It is the meeting of many paths, the writing of a story that connects us to the world, to humanity, to the Earth and to what vibrates most deeply within us : love and unity.
Honoring our ancestors, our traditions and thousands of years of craftsmanship, which is far more than interlaced threads. It is the meeting of many paths, the writing of a story that connects us to the world, to humanity, to the Earth and to what vibrates most deeply within us : love and unity.
I leave with a simple gratitude. A quiet peace exchanged in the rhythm of craft, through human and textile transmissions.
Thank you for your welcome and for your sharing.
Thank you for your welcome and for your sharing.
Christian CARLIER
Spinning - Weaving - Workshops
christiancarlier@gmx.com
+33 6 01 13 73 08
Souvigny, France.
earthorphann@gmail.com