This workshop offers an immersive experience in the world of thread and textile art, at the intersection of experimentation and creation.

Using natural fibers, copper wire, recycled materials, and plant-based elements, it explores crochet, knotting, and weaving techniques to create sculptures, wall hangings, and freestanding forms.

Participants learn to design a variety of forms—tubes, spheres, supporting structures, in small or large formats—and to create objects such as lighting fixtures, sculptures, or jewelry, combining metal wires, textiles, reinforced paper, and various fibers.

Rooted in an approach sensitive to the ecology of materials, Michèle Forest’s practice questions our relationship with the living world. Through her focus on materials and their origins, she engages in a reflection that is both poetic and socially conscious, addressing contemporary environmental issues.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Crochet with different types of yarn, from copper to paper and all kinds of natural and reinforced threads
• Understand how to create three-dimensional forms
• Incorporate decorative, structural, or load-bearing elements into the mesh
• Combine multiple techniques within the same project
• Create an object composed of different elements and materials

This workshop invites participants to explore crochet as a true tool for visual creation, far beyond its traditional textile applications. Through an approach that is both technical and experimental, participants develop their skills while grounding them in a personal artistic vision focused on creating three-dimensional forms and objects.

The richness of this workshop lies in the diversity of materials used. In advance, everyone is invited to collect items that might fuel their exploration: repurposed or salvaged objects, industrial or household waste, plant materials (natural fibers, seeds, bark, wood, twigs), and unusual threads and textiles. This foraging process continues on-site throughout the workshop, making the collection itself a creative process in its own right.

Each participant is guided in the design and creation of one or more original pieces, or exploratory samples, combining hand-crochet with a variety of materials. The forms are constructed from semi-rigid materials, or materials that become rigid after assembly, giving the pieces their structure and sculptural quality. The range of possibilities remains deliberately open: sculpture, jewelry, lighting, wall art, or hybrid objects. Each participant progresses at their own pace, within a dynamic of experimentation and exploration.

Michèle Forest shares both her techniques and her artistic approach, informed by her own research. She offers personalized guidance, suggesting approaches tailored to each project, while encouraging everyone to develop a personal creative language.

Schedule

Day 1

Morning

• Presentation of Michèle Forest’s ecological approach through sculptures, pieces, and samples
• Getting acquainted with the tools and yarns to master the basic techniques of crochet

Afternoon

• Learning basic stitches, tailored to each participant’s skill level, and creating first simple shapes

Day 2

Morning

• Creating more complex shapes and understanding their construction through variations in stitches

Afternoon

• Experimenting with new materials to understand changes in scale.
• Gradual identification, for each participant, of preferred tools and materials

Day 3

Morning

• Development of a personal project: research, sampling, and preparatory sketches
• Reflection on the components of the pieces and exploration of integration techniques (drilling, assembly, etc.)

Afternoon

• Beginning of the creation of individual sculptures.
• Personalized technical guidance and creative suggestions tailored to each project

Day 4

Morning

• Continuation of work or development of samples related to ongoing projects
• Time for discussion among participants regarding creative choices and demonstrations of specific techniques

Afternoon

• Introduction of new techniques based on the progress of projects, to enhance everyone’s work and skills

Day 5

Morning

• Finalization of projects and completion of final touches.

Afternoon

• Presentation of the pieces and constructive critical discussions
• Review of challenges encountered and solutions implemented
• Exploring the many creative possibilities offered by the practice
• Tidying up the workshop

Michèle Forest

For Michèle Forest, thread is never merely a material. It becomes structure, language, connection. At the intersection of constructivism and traditional textile techniques, her work unfolds a sculptural vocabulary where patient gestures and contemporary experimentation converge.

Through a deeply tactile relationship with the material, the artist creates works using natural fibers and threads, as well as manufactured objects or items gathered from nature. Integrated into the fabric, these elements give rise to organic forms, halfway between plant-like evocations and animal presences. Crochet, knotting, and weaving thus become tools of construction, capable of generating volumes, tensions, and architectural structures.

By reappropriating an ancestral medium, Michèle Forest shifts its uses and blurs the boundaries between art and craft. Her work is rooted in a slow temporality, attentive to materials and their provenance, in contrast to the logic of rapid production and immediate consumption.

A graduate of the École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués Duperré in Paris and a member of the Ateliers d’Art de France, she simultaneously engages in educational outreach, sharing her research and techniques with diverse audiences.
Her works have been exhibited in France and internationally, notably in South Korea and Hong Kong, as well as at the Révélations biennials in France and China.

Through thread—knotted, woven, or crocheted—a broader reflection on life takes shape. Between fragility and resilience, disappearance and transformation, her pieces explore the interdependent relationships between humans, animals, and the environment. A practice that is both poetic and socially engaged, inviting us to reconsider how we inhabit the world.

• Classroom, multipurpose room, workshops with professional equipment
• Supply of materials
• Individual and collaborative work
• Workshop-based learning
• Active participation and hands-on experimentation by participants are encouraged

• Group and personalized progress tracking, regular updates
• Self-assessment of technical skills
• Group presentation
• Attendance sheet by half-day
• Certificate of completion issued by Campus MaNa