Jeanne Goutelle: Upcycling to weave better

Trained in applied arts at the Duperré school in Paris, Jeanne Goutelle specialized in the art of trimmings. Weaving, knots, braids… Techniques and materials hold no secrets for her. Aware of Upcycling, all her creations are made from fabric scraps. After a visit to the “Biennale du Design” in Saint-Etienne in 2019 and a participation in the “Objet Textile” exhibition in Roubaix in 2020, Jeanne Goutelle was faced with a major challenge: decorating the president’s office. of the European Commission in Brussels, of which France will take the lead in January 2022.

Daughter and granddaughter of an architect, Jeanne Goutelle confides that she has always been nurtured by the world of textiles and creation. After studying in Paris and two years spent in England forging her creative identity, she returned to live in Saint-Etienne, a city in which textiles are very present, particularly through her past linked to ribbons. With twenty years of experience, she qualifies her work as being ” at the crossroads of art, design and craftsmanship, I don’t want to compartmentalize” .

It was during her experience in a knitwear factory that Jeanne Goutelle had the click for upcycling. Even within the manufacturing process, she was struck by the losses generated during production. “I was uncomfortable with the fact that no one was looking for middle ground solutions to these losses.” To remedy this, it has started its own responsible approach by approaching industrialists who would agree to redistribute their losses. An idea that was very well received from its first exchange with the SATAB textile factory, which has remained its first supplier since the end of 2017. She therefore moved away from the world of fashion, which did not correspond to the lasting values that she wanted to develop in her works and thus launched herself on her own at the beginning of 2018.

With the gifts at her disposal, Jeanne Goutelle has nearly 3,500 material references (ribbons, braids, straps). A multiplicity of materials for an infinity of creative processes: “I am convinced that everyone is creative, but some take time to accept it” . To create, she uses 3 different techniques: weaving which allows her to superimpose several materials such as fabric, ribbon and straps; the knot that she develops with the crochet technique and which offers an infinity of models and finally the braids, a process for which she works from modules.

In 2019, Jeanne Goutelle exhibited her work at the Biennale du Design in Saint-Etienne and stood out for her process and her large-scale screens. At the beginning of 2021, Jeanne Goutelle was in charge of the decoration of the men’s ready-to-wear brand “Bonne Gueule” in Lille. A shop sensitized by its Upcycling approach and which wished to follow the example. In fact, for the project, all the fabrics used to decorate the store’s clothes racks come from fabric scraps from the brand’s clothing factory.

However, this project was not the only major one for Jeanne Goutelle. Alongside the architect and scenographer Adeline Rispal, she was selected to fit out the salons of the Council of the European Union for the French presidency, effective six months from January 2022. Baptized Intersection(s), the common thread of this project was to represent the links of Europe through weaving. Inaugurated on January 10, the project required the work of 4 people for 4 weeks in its workshops in Saint-Etienne.

Maïa Pois