Aurélia Westray is a French visual artist whose practice unfolds through the creative potential of felt. Her encounter with this material—long dismissed as “poor” or outdated—ignited the artistic force she had been searching for since her student years. The discovery was immediate, almost intuitive: a perfect alignment between an artistic quest and the expressive possibilities of a natural fibre. Since then, Aurélia has explored every nuance of felt, pushing its limits and composing singular works instantly recognizable by their modernity. A portrait of an artist—and a tribute to a material that has never felt more relevant.

portrait artiste son atelier Aurélia Westray, feutre contemporain art

An Ancestral Fibre, a Contemporary Vision

At the dawn of civilisation, felt was among the very first hand-made textiles created by humans. Without any tools, it offered warmth, protection, and accompanied the earliest forms of settlement.

Despite this foundational role, felt gradually lost its prestige in contemporary interiors, much like wool itself. It experienced a brief resurgence in the 1970s, before becoming confined to fashion accessories—especially hats—and to the realm of crafts. The objects displayed at artisan markets certainly didn’t help to restore its reputation.

Yet its thermal and acoustic properties made it indispensable in industry: automobiles, construction, shock absorption, even the brake pads of the TGV.

And despite its outdated image, felt aligns perfectly with today’s priorities: natural materials, low environmental impact, thermal and acoustic insulation, breathability. It’s easy to forget that wool fibres are alive, water-repellent, resilient, and far more sophisticated than they appear.

Aurélia Westray feutre moderne art contemporain tableau en feutre

When Felt Becomes Revelation

Aurélia Westray is one of the staunchest advocates of this noble material. Through experimentation, she brings felt back into contemporary visibility.

As a student in applied arts, she was already drawn to textiles. Her first job in prêt-à-porter led her toward millinery. During an internship on felted wool, she experienced a genuine artistic shock: the fibre became a pictorial tool. A revelation that changed her trajectory entirely.

Though felt can be learned autodidactically, Aurélia chose to train with the very best. In Aubusson, in the Creuse region—historic heartland of French felt—master felters continue to preserve a rare expertise.

There, Aurélia met an exceptional teacher. She absorbed her techniques, bent them, transformed them, and gradually forged her own artistic language—now her signature.

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Aurélia Westray felt-contemporary-art-aurelia-westray

French Wool at the Service of Art

French white wool forms the foundation of all Aurélia Westray’s creations. Committed to preserving local heritage, she prioritises short supply chains and works directly with breeders.

She insists on the absence of mistreatment: shearing is part of the animals’ natural cycle, and unused wool is simply discarded. In her artworks, at least 70% of fibres are French, sourced from the Massif Central or the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. A superb, local, durable material.

For coloured fibres, Aurélia relies on New Zealand manufacturers renowned for the stability of their dyes—essential, since felt requires extensive washing.

felt-contemporary-art-aurelia-westray workshop

Painting with Fibre, Sculpting with Light

Her earliest pieces were linked to clothing, but Aurélia quickly turned toward architecture and interior design. Felt became her palette for creating surfaces that are at once flat and sculptural—somewhere between painting and tapestry.

The physical relationship with the material is central: a true dialogue, a kind of physical negotiation where the fibre tests the limits of the body as much as the imagination.

Creation begins with scent and touch, continues through drawing, then through visualising the space where the work will eventually live. This phase of gestation is essential. After that come the samples, and finally the execution—dictated as much by physical capacity as by technique.

Aurélia moves far beyond the rustic image of felt. She explores its translucency, its finesse, its graphic potential. Every gesture is deliberate; every detail anticipated—as in architecture. With felt, she creates planes, volumes, recesses, and luminous effects. She now sculpts the material the way others model clay or carve stone.

Everything is handmade, and the dimensions are limited by the artist’s physical strength: currently 1.80 × 1.50 m. Machines could produce much larger pieces, but never the effects she seeks.

Her chromatic universe stands apart from the current pastel trend: baroque, vivid, unapologetic. At Rendez-Vous de la Matière, this boldness caught the attention of architects, confirming the strength of her approach.

Aurélia’s wall pieces find their place in living rooms and bedrooms; her felt panels also serve as acoustic insulation. They combine beauty with technical performance. Today, her expertise attracts speaker manufacturers, hospitality architects, and spatial designers.

Lake Geneva, Mountain Light, and Japanese Inspirations

Aurélia Westray’s childhood was shaped by the proximity of Lake Geneva. From the heights where she lived, she observed the lake constantly shifting in colour with the light and weather. Walks along the water, immersed in nature, left a deep imprint on her imagination—one that still nurtures her search for transparency and reflections.

Now living in a mountain region, she remains deeply attuned to her surroundings: trees, streams, and colour variations of the landscape naturally find their way into her compositions.

Japanese art is another source of inspiration. Nuno Silk, for instance—even though she does not practise this technique that blends silk and wool to create a non-woven textile. In France, Laurine Malengreau is one of its leading practitioners.
Shibori (known in the West as tie-dye) also stimulates her imagination. More broadly, Aurélia seeks to blur boundaries, to make the material almost forgettable in favour of visual illusions: stone, lace, mineral textures? The references shift and intermingle to produce entirely new effects.

Another artist is key to her journey: Claudy Jongstra, whose monumental and powerful works have paved the way for felt’s recognition in museums and major private collections.