September: Nuno Felt

Nuno Felt Technique The first evidence of bonding loose wool fibers together to create the non-woven fabric we refer to as “felt” is attributed to people living in Mongolia and Siberia during the 7th to 2nd Century BC. Felted textile goods found in the archaeological record from this era and location clearly demonstrate this unique fabric-making technique and its use in the production of clothing, jewelry, and blankets.

In 1992, Australian textile artist Polly Stirling developed “Nuno felt”, a unique fabric-making technique characterized by bonding wool fibers (from sheep, Cashmere goat, llama, and others) with sheer, woven fabrics such as silk gauze. Although the Japanese the word "nuno" means “fabric”, the dynamic surface textures and colorful patterns that result from this expressive approach to textile design suggests this may be a generally appropriate but perhaps a vastly underestimated name.