In Tune with Nature: The Textile Art of Adriana Meunié

Fashion designer and multi-disciplinary artist Adriana Meunié makes work which responds to the traditional materials and crafts of Mallorca, where she grew up and now resides. She works with raw, organic materials such as wool and raffia to create weavings and garments loaded with richly sensorial, tactile properties, asking us to consider their roots as organic products fresh from the field. She does so by tampering as little as possible with the materials, allowing their innately wild, textural qualities to dictate the nature of what she makes; dried grasses fan outwards from her wall hangings, swishing this way and that, while wool left in uneven, shaggy clumps becomes rugged clothing or three-dimensional tapestries.

Meunié grew up in Mallorca, where her father was an artist, and he invested in her a creative streak from a young age. She temporarily moved away from Mallorca to study, as she explains, “I studied fashion design in Barcelona, in BAU, Escola Superior de Diseny. I never felt totally comfortable with the fashion world but I developed a real love for textiles in its many forms.”

After graduating she spent time living in Barcelona and Berlin, where, as she says, “I began to play with textiles and wall hangings. I love weaving because it’s the primary form of textiles that’s been a human activity since the beginning. I find this concept of creating something from zero and line by line so beautiful.” Meunié adds, “I found the tapestry techniques, bounded to the very primary sense of textiles, as an incredible opportunity to create wild textures, volumes and shapes.”

During this time Meunié also visited the Navajo weavers of New Mexico, as she explains, “After Barcelona I went to New Mexico to do a short course on weaving with women of Navajo, whom I’ve always admired… I felt a connection with the Navajo people: their preservation of identity and relationship with the natural world.” It was this particular experience that led Meunié to consider the ways she might be able to tap in to the traditional roots of Mallorca, connecting with the natural resources of her hometown in the same way the Navajo people have been doing with theirs. She explains, “I admire [the Navajo weavers] greatly and although I will never be a part of their culture, I recognised that Mallorca is also losing a lot of its culture.”

Meunié also recognized a desire within her to return to nature, after having lived in several major bustling cities, noting, “I never thought that would happen to me but at a certain moment I became tired of living in cities and there was a sudden need to come back.” Back in Mallorca, Meunié has found a deep connection with natural materials working out ways of integrating them into her art in as little an invasive way as possible. “The wool, esparto, carritx, raffia (among others) in their primary form are simply so attractive to me,” she notes, adding, “We usually see them treated or used in baskets, sweaters, chairs… but before giving them a practical use, I find them wonderful and I wish to share this feeling… “When you see raw materials you see their beauty, they show that everything comes from somewhere.”

As well as allowing the natural textures of her materials to shine through, Meunié is also keen to keep her wall-hangings and wearable garments in a muted, neutral colour scheme that reflects back the wild wonder of nature. She says, “The colours are always natural. I have a great difficulty with using colours. The truth is that like this they naturally blend with the colours of my surroundings, and I love that.”