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© Sophie Bassouls
© All rights reserved
© All rights reserved
© Sophie Bassouls

Simone Pheulpin

  • Fabric sculptor
  • Puteaux, France
  • Master Artisan
Simone Pheulpin Fabric sculptor
Contact
French
Hours:
By appointment only
© All rights reserved

A natural world in cotton

  • • For Simone, perfection is when there’s nothing more to add
  • • In 1987 she participated in the Biennale de la Tapisserie in Lausanne
  • • She likes to inspire young artisans

The natural world is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Simone Pheulpin, a French artist who takes inspiration from trees, flowers, natural sponges and shells. She uses raw cotton folded on itself and held in place by thousands of pins to create artworks that are in demand all over the world and feature in many important museums and private collections. It can take several months to create a single piece, depending on its size. The end result, for Simone, should be a piece of work that encourages people to think, to take time, to do things calmly, to travel with the mind and especially to dream.

Read the full interview

Works

  • © All rights reserved
  • © Maison Parisienne
  • © Maison Parisienne
  • © Maison Parisienne
  • © All rights reserved
Photo: © All rights reserved
Bracelet

At first glance this piece could be made of clay, but in fact the texture of this sculpture is created from folded cotton. It was imagined by Simone during her long walks near waterfalls in the Vosges mountain range in France. Simone observed the falling and flowing water and how it carried away broken pieces of rock. Bracelet reminds the viewer of shells or fossils, often found on the banks of rivers or the seashore.

Length 45 cm
Width 35 cm
Height 20 cm

Photo: © Maison Parisienne
Geneviève – Éclipse series

Simone Pheulpin uses thick untreated cotton that is not sensitive to sunlight. This unadorned and austere material is manipulated into folds and shaped into detailed sculptures. The hole in the middle emphasises the grandness of the structure, while incorporating light and space.

Length 51 cm
Width 43 cm
Height 10 cm

Photo: © Maison Parisienne
Epiphyte

These interlocking and undulating folds of cotton seem to imitate fossilised wood or geological formations. Like a crevice on the bark of a tree, Epiphyte hangs from a branch of wood, which in turn is trapped under a waterfall of fabric. Surrounded by nature, Simone Pheulpin photographs the shapes that inspire her works.

Length 30 cm
Width 90 cm
Height 40 cm

Photo: © Maison Parisienne
Eclipse VI

Simone Pheulpin stacks and folds ribbons of unbleached woven cotton to create organic sculptures that express her affinity for nature and her poetic vision of the world. Like a solidified lava flow, the layers of folded fabric that make up Eclipse VI convey the idea of petrified movement. The work evokes rock crevices, sediments, prehistory and raw nature. The geologic shapes make us conscious of the era before mankind.

Photo: © All rights reserved
Mélanie

One of the main characteristics of Simone’s works is its sculptural dimension. Often confused with carved stone or ceramics, her work is a spontaneous and intimate assemblage of strips of folded cotton, pinned together one by one.

Length 96 cm
Width 96 cm

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