Textile Art &

Design Selected Projects

"The topics in my work are deeply personal, an invitation to explore, think, experience. Walking without a destination, creating a path of my choosing. Finding what feels right along the way. Giving, unvalued, discarded, decayed objects a place and new life. Crafting them into relics, talismans, primitive objects to use in rituals, interventions in the landscape."

Yulia Badian

Yulia Badian is an artist and designer, born in Austria (1967), since 2022 she lives and works in Portugal. After a 3 year college in Textile Design (Vienna), she moved to London to finish a 1 year college in Prop design and Making (Central School for Speech and Drama) and worked on many small and bigger productions.

As an award- winning garden designer (2001 – 2010), she developed also conceptuel gardens and worked together with different artists: "A singing portable garden" (IT), Composition Andres Bossart (soundscape artist, CH).

The brilliant feedback on her studio exhibition “Crown, Crone and Throne” (multi-part room installation), 2017 Royal College of Art (Transition from crafty to art/ SummerSchool), prompted her to pursue more experimental forms of expression.

She opened a gallery in Utah and, inspired by the partly mountainous and inhospitable desert landscape, she realized site-specific art interventions (2018 – 2021).

In her artistic research projects, she traces craft techniques, uses existing materials, and connects them with forgotten stories from the region. Large-scale, multi-part installations and performances in which the artist becomes part of the landscape, part of her project.

In the tension between visibility and Invisibility as a human being, as a woman: "Solistice Godess", "Ritual for a Packrat", "Handmades no more", "Hanging Sculpture".

"Silkfelt" (2012 till 2017) - Yulia Badian developed textile art objects and installations mainly from felt or in combination with silk ("Woodland Boudoir", "Mermaid Project"), and experimented with wool, silk and light ( "Lumiaries"), exhibited, among others in the Gallery space at the Knitting and Stitching show London, Dublin, Harrogate.

More over she was Guest teacher at different Festivals (for example KreaTov Festival Gotland, Sweden).

Celebrating mature women’s sexuality. Spring comes at all ages. Sap rises in old trees. The bed is empty, winter skin shed. Bluebells calling in the spring woods.

Woodland Boudoir (2012)

Group project curated by Yulia Badian for gallery space at the Knitting and Stitching Show London, Dublin, Harrogate

Photo: ©Lucy Williams

Bluebell Woods

Hand dyed, hand felted blanket; “Birch Skin” Hand dyed Silk and Felt, fused rug; Hand dyed Silk and felt fused; curtains “birch leaf”

Shed Winter Skin

Hand dyed, Shibori sculpted, strong felt

Winterbreast

Hand dyed, Shibori sculpted, felt cushion

The Mermaid Project (2014-2016)

Exhibited: Gallery space at the Knitting and Stitching show London, Dublin, Harrogate

Other Artist: Roswitha Karl (AT), Coat rack and rear display case

Photo: ©Lucy Williams

Ingredients for magic potions/ a witches larder

A mixture of different types ofwool, felted extremely densely so that the objects appear sculptural while also being flexible and wafer-thin.

Mixed Material: Strong felt over polystyrene core,rare breed wool, hand dyed, natural inclusions: sea urchin spines, kaori shells, polymer clay press mold from sea urchin and starfish.

Inspired by Anderson’s sad tale of sacrifice, self-denial and what we do for love. Thoughts on what we do to be enough, how far we are prepared to deform to get our prince. A conversation about love, sex and the beauty industry.

Room installation with various stations.

Bargaining Chips

A core of polymer clay,handmade press moldstarfish leg, enclosed in strong felt with rare breed wool, beaded with Swarowski.

Foam Rug – what is left

Inspired by the mermaid’s sad ending – all that is left is sea foam.

Mixed Material: Merino wool prefelted and hand dyed, rare breed locks and silk hankies applied then strong felted into a usable piece.

Large 2.3x1.2m hand felted rug

Luminaries - A series inspired by jellyfish (2015)

Experimenting with wool, silk and light. For Designersblock.

MINI

Hand felted 3d sculptural piece based on jelly fish. Merino wool, lace in white, all colour by led light.

Coral lights

Silk fabric and merino wool fused and shibori sculpted. Strong felt holds the shape without extra support. Led light inside.

Woman of war

Led light chandelier 36 led lights felted into tentacles hand felted merino and rare breed wool. Hood is silk and wool fused together on a wire structure.

Ruffle hand felted, rare breed locks.