We visited Belén Vilanova’s studio in Mataró to talk about tufting, textures, and the need to reconnect with handmade processes.

Some spaces do more than produce objects — they create experiences. Places where time seems to slow down and where the process becomes just as important as the final result. In the center of Mataró, Borrissol Creatiu has become a creative refuge for people looking to experiment, create, and reconnect with handmade practices through tufting and contemporary textile techniques. Behind the project is Belén Vilanova, an artist and maker deeply passionate about materials, textures, and everything that can be built by hand. After years working within the worlds of art and photography, she felt the need to create a shared space where creativity could be experienced in a more tangible, open, and human way.

“Borrissol was born from the desire to create a creative refuge in the center of Mataró.” The studio’s name is no coincidence. “Borrissol” refers to the small fibers that float through the air when working with wool and textiles — a poetic image that also reflects how ideas slowly begin to take shape.

Tufting as a Creative Language

Belén first discovered tufting while experimenting with photographic interventions for an artistic project. She was immediately drawn to the technique’s visual strength, immediacy, and direct relationship with materiality. There is something magnetic about watching a drawing transform, within just a few hours, into a tactile and volumetric surface.

“There’s something magical about it: in just a few hours, you can watch a drawing become a tactile, three-dimensional piece.”

Every piece begins with a sketch. The design is transferred onto the frame and, thread by thread, built using the tufting gun. Then come the less visible stages: gluing, trimming, carving, and final detailing — the processes that ultimately give each piece depth and character. It is precisely in these finishing touches where the craftsmanship becomes most evident.

Thread as Living Material

In the world of tufting, material is not just a tool — it is a language. At Borrissol Creatiu, they mainly work with high-quality wool and recycled acrylic yarns sourced locally, selected for their resistance, definition, and chromatic intensity. Texture, weight, and density can completely transform the final outcome.

“Threads are the soul of every piece.”

A deep sensitivity toward materials lies at the heart of the project. Belén continuously explores new textures and fibers, with a particular interest in responsible processes and sustainable materials. “Material changes everything: shine, texture, weight, and even the emotional perception of a piece.” At a time when handmade work is regaining value, this conscious approach to materiality also reshapes the relationship between craftsmanship, design, and sustainability.

More Than a Studio

Walking into Borrissol Creatiu means entering a space where concentration, experimentation, and community coexist. Artists, designers, curious beginners, and people simply looking to disconnect from daily routines all gather around the shared experience of making. The studio is both a learning space and a meeting point.

“It’s not just about learning tufting — it’s about living a creative, transformative, and shared experience.”

One of the things that surprises Belén most is seeing how quickly people with no previous experience discover creative abilities they didn’t know they had.

Creating with Your Hands

Like many independent creative projects, Borrissol Creatiu has had to find its own balance between artistic practice, business management, and community building. Yet it is precisely this balance that gives the project its identity. Looking ahead, Belén hopes to establish Borrissol as a reference space for contemporary textile techniques, opening it to new collaborations, experimental formats, and educational projects. In an increasingly digital world, tufting almost feels like a counter gesture: slow, physical, and deeply human.

“Creating with our hands connects us to time, material, and the profound satisfaction of transforming a simple thread into something unique.”

Quick Questions

Favorite color?
Moss green.

An essential material?
Wool.

A piece that defines the studio?Organic, abstract pieces full of color.

Coffee or tea in the studio?
Both — always surrounded by threads and conversations.

La entrada Borrissol Creatiu: Creating with Your Hands in a Fast-Paced World se publicó primero en Fiber Fever.

Here we tell you about the creative process of Ferran Palau’s triple project, “Plora Aquí” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdxGaMEfUkI . A work that together with Pablo Maestres and his interdisciplinary team is impossible to leave you indifferent.

At a time when Ferran Palau was looking for the direction of his new album, he began to create little monsters with material he had at home, and a parallel path began between music and monsters. From the conjunction of Pablo and Ferran was born the idea of making a longer video where the protagonists were monsters.

From idea to creation, using the Felting Needle process:

The construction of the monsters was an artisanal task carried out by Agnes C. Olive, Atena P. Clavell and Andrea R. Perez, which took 3 months of laborious work.

In this short interview they tell us about their creative process and techniques!

The creative process started by sharing what they wanted to convey with the

monsters, what was the symbolism, the sensations?

AGNÉS TELLS US:
In any creative project, one of the most complex stages is moving from the world of ideas to reality, the material. It was after the meetings where we soaked up the imaginary that they wanted to transmit and I thought of teaming up with Atena and Andrea.

The first task I had was to investigate with different materials. To give matter and body to the ethereal idea they had. I decided to start working on the volumes and shapes with plasticine. This was the starting point for creating life-size moulds with other materials so that I could make the patterns with Andrea.

ANDREA:
In the end, pattern-making is drawing on a plan what will later become a 3-dimensional volume, like a puzzle where you create your pieces. From the real volumes that we worked on the moulds, we worked on each piece of the puzzle to achieve the shapes of the monsters. The skeleton is made up of a diving suit, from the neck to the feet, on which we incorporated volumes that give it the shape designed by Agnès, based on cushions and wadding.

To finish, everything was covered with a volume-fitting shell made of wool felt. In this way we were able to obtain the body of the monsters ready for Athena to start giving them life and personality with the different textures and colours of the sheep’s wool.

ATENA:

They were looking for monsters that looked real, that’s how I thought of sheep’s wool, because of the texture, the colour, although it seemed to me that due to the time and budget it wouldn’t be possible. The good thing about working as a team made us consider that wool was a material that wasn’t heavy and gave us a more realistic image.

The techniques for working with wool are slow. It was a matter of getting the wool the more natural the better, we saved steps, we could work with different shades, textures and thicknesses of wool as each breed of sheep has different characteristics …

We start with a good selection to find out in which parts of the body of the

We were very grateful to them for the work they did.  It was at this point that we contacted Fiber Fever who helped us find all the formats of sheep’s wool we used and recommended the best options for our needs.

We continued with dry felting for the bigger monster and wet felting for the smaller one. It looked like we were painting or sculpting, but with wool.

It was a long and laborious process, but we are very happy with the results of the two little monsters and all the visual work of Ferran Palau and Pablo Maestres’ team. Here we share with you a little piece of the beautiful project and we hope it gives you the punch to keep on creating with this wonderful natural fibre like sheep’s wool!

La entrada Creativity in Action: The Art of Sheep Wool Monsters and Felting Needles in Ferran Palau’s Project se publicó primero en Fiber Fever.

We identify an extraordinary opportunity in the need for change to breathe new life into disused pre-consumer acrylic fibres.

It all started with an idea! We could transform them into vibrant coloured threads, which would end up decorating our most intimate spaces.

So after analysing our strengths and needs for change towards a more environmentally sustainable Textile Industry, we decided to embark on our journey towards our 100% Acrylic Recycled Yarns.

The path has been and is a constant learning process, as our aim is not only to create good quality yarns for your tuffting creations but also to give new life to waste while maintaining the same or better performance with a 100% Recycled product.

Let’s tell you about the process of creating our yarns!

We start by collecting fibres from pre-consumer waste. Once collected, we classify them by colour and through a process of defibration we have our fibres ready to be spun again.

Tufting is a brilliant formula where we focus all our knowledge to investigate how to collect waste fibres, choose the best ones, and start giving shape and colour to one of our projects. 

In recent years Tuffting has become popular as a technique for the creation of handmade carpets and tapestries. Through a gun where we thread the threads, we insert them into a fabric base (monk’s cloth), and we can start to create our personalised pieces with lup or cut as a carpet and generating a number of fantastic textures and volumes.

In this article we give you the reasons why you should choose our 100% Acrylic Recycled Yarns:

• A quantity of striking colours for your creations
  • An immense range of colours
  • Excellent light fastness, due to its origin
  • Same performance with a 100% recycled product

Feel free to try them out and tell us about your creative experience with them! SHARE YOUR CREATIONS WITH US 

La entrada 100% Recycled Acrylic Yarns – Circular threads from waste to creations se publicó primero en Fiber Fever.

This commitment allows us to offer unique products, designed to elevate every living space through the tufting technique.

Our intention is clear; to transfer the soul of the earth to the interior of our houses; to capture the philosophy of nature in our creations. The Pas beach, in the town of Port de la Selva, is the epicentre of the inspiration behind this project. A cove partially covered by stones, in different colours, shapes and patterns, which prompted us to replicate the aesthetic appeal of the stones of the Costa Brava.

Our proposal is simple: to represent, in a metaphorical way, the landscapes of the Mediterranean, of the Costa Brava, from the rocks that we have found in the different coves, beaches and forests of the territory. To bring the sea and the mountains, nature, to the homes of our customers, delivering, with each of the pieces we make, the stone whose organic and linear motifs have given life to the product in question.

In carpet making, the choice of materials is key to achieving a balance between aesthetics, functionality and sustainability.

When we meet Fiber Fever yarns we find ourselves in a dichotomy!

 Which thread to use for our creations? Which material was the most suitable according to our values of Sustainability, Circularity, Proximity, quality and aesthetics?

We finally decided to work with Fiber Fever 100% Wool Yarns and now we are going to tell you why!

100% Wool Yarns stand out for their unique properties and their capacity to transform any textile project into art.

Firstly, sheep’s wool fibre provides benefits that go beyond quality and aesthetics. Wool stands out for its intrinsic properties such as thermal insulation, warmth and softness, as well as an excellent ability to regulate moisture and allow breathability.

Its national origin makes Fiber Fever 100% Wool Yarns a 100% sustainable and proximity product, which fits perfectly with the values of Nanbu studio.

When we started working with Fiber Fever 100% wool yarns we found that they bring a density and soft texture to our carpets giving them a cosy and pleasing appearance both to the eye and to the touch. This finish not only beautifies spaces, but also enhances the sensory experience of those who enjoy them. The thickness of the yarn and its precise twist make 100% sheep’s wool yarns the perfect material for tufting, a technique that requires strength and adaptability to achieve uniform and long-lasting results.

This type of wool not only facilitates the manufacturing process, but also guarantees the quality and longevity of the finished pieces.

One of the thingswe loved was their colour range of 100% Natural shades.  The shades they offer range from cream tones to browns and greys, without using any dyes or chemical processes that are harmful to the environment. These 100% natural colours are ideal for our collection inspired by the landscapes of the Costa Brava and the Mediterranean.

Finally, it is important to underline the sustainability of this resource. Domestic sheep’s wool is sourced according to responsible practices that respect the environment and encourage the development of a local economy. This choice not only reflects a commitment to the environment, but also to the creation of unique pieces that tell stories of connection with nature and tradition.

La entrada Nanbu Studio tells about their experience in the art of tufting with our 100% Wool Yarns se publicó primero en Fiber Fever.