Violaine Buet

Violaine Buet is qualified in Humanities; the Science of Education and Sign Language. On obtaining a diploma in industrial design at ENSCI (Paris), she spent 7 years in South India. As her passion for textile design developed, she studied the block print technique and enjoyed a two-year collaboration in a traditional, local workshop where innovatively she alternated between the hierarchical roles of apprentice and artistic director. Her close-knit relationship with artisans has confirmed her certitude that the beauty of each design or material is intrinsically tied to the harmony which unites every hand involved in the creative process. On her return, Violaine spent one year doing a continual assessment course on textiles and materials (ENSAD), where she began her intensive research on seaweed.

In September 2016 she set up her studio in Bretagne for the creative research and development of macro-algae where she manufactures tailored made seaweed textiles (haute-couture, trends, cinema, scenography). “At the threshold of design, craft and research, I am developing, accompanied by a precious network, a multidisciplinary know-how; a dialogue between macro-algae and textile techniques, between nature and manufacture. The identity of these promising, biodegradable materials -magnificent kelp- raise a series of questions and reflections about our relationship to nature, and about our hopes and expectations from materials and objects. This eye-opening concept of reconciling to the impermanent rhythm of living beings invites us to draw on new ways of conceiving our relationship to our milieu and question where and when the action of our hands can re-align to our thoughts.”