Atelier Balancê explores time, sculptural poetry and
found materials through basket weaving.
Practice.
Based on ancient and traditional know-how, Atelier Balancê applies basket weaving techniques on found materials such as natural fibers and discarded materials, and aims to convert them into new shapes and objects through experimental manipulations. Hands become tools to interweave research, craft and art.
Atelier Balancê honours the process of making, the poetry of slowness and ancestral craftsmanship. It's a sculptural exploration, a call for ecological awareness.
unique pieces | custom work | workshops
Member of Portugal Manual.
Member of Homo Faber Guide by the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftmanship.
© Kali Fawaz
© Nicholas Hannes
Biography.
I’m Ysaline Ophoff, born in Belgium and now based in Portugal. With a background in architecture, I decided in 2019 to put my curiosity for the art of basket weaving into practice. I immersed myself in this ancient craft with local basket weavers in the Brazilian Amazon. By discovering the different layers of this craft – the technical know-how, the embodied nature, as well as the social and cultural aspects of it - my curiosity and desire to explore it more only grew. In 2020 I founded Atelier Balancê.
'balancê' is a swinging movement like a canoe in a river, a hammock on a boat, palm trees in the wind or the waves of the sea. It's a dance, a flowing movement, ginga. It's warm yellow and deep orange, an early morning glow, an evening sun. It's a mood, a mindset.
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