That fuzzy feeling

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In an attempt to inject her life with more colour and her days with more creativity, Renske Carbone has ended up reviving the oldest fabric known to mankind – felt.
Entering textile designer Renske Carbone’s Melbourne studio is a magical experience, like stepping straight into a children’s fairytale; part Geppetto the Toymaker’s workshop and part Fairy Godmother’s chamber. Adorable soft toy animals and pretty rag dolls perch on desks, side tables, chairs – any flat surface. The workbench is scattered with jewel-like soft beads and buttons, intriguing brown paper patterns hang against the walls and skeins of brightly coloured wool and arcane reference books fill the wooden shelves.

At its centre, Renske herself: a larger-than-life figure in rich purple with a pink felt flower pinned jauntily to her top and her auburn hair pushed back to reveal a striking white forelock. Everything radiates colour, creativity and life.

It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago, the 46-year-old Dutch-born designer was at a creative and spiritual low point. Her climb back to her current sense of fulfilment - both personal and artistic - involved not only a journey within herself, but a voyage to exotic lands. In
a happy coincidence, the two expeditions converged at the same destination; resulting in a less complicated, but more meaningful approach to life and work.

“I’ve always been involved with textiles and making things, even at an early age,” Renske recalls. “My mother did a lot of sewing for us kids, and I was always making bits and pieces. What excites me most about textiles, art, craft, interiors, clothing, food, nature – everything in fact – is colour. But I didn’t truly discover colour until I migrated to Australia in 1981, when I was 19. It was a revelation to see the brightness all around me. I think only people who have spent considerable time in grey old Northern Europe really appreciate this.”

Inspired by her new homeland to take her textile passion further, Renske studied the subject part-time at TAFE in Perth and several years later enrolled full-time in a Bachelor of Visual Arts course at Western Australia’s Curtin University. Upon completing her degree in 1991, she started making hand-painted scarves in a backyard shed under the name Colours of Australia. “I got big orders from Dorian Scott in The Rocks, Sydney, and the old Georges department store in Melbourne straight away and that gave me the confidence I needed to make the business work.”


Words: Kieren Charteris Photography: Andrew Lehmann