Designers

One to Watch: Julia Mior Crafts Rugs with a Feminist Edge

Its this conversation starter that everyone gets to have their own experience with, the Vancouver designer says of her pieces.

By Lucy Lau / August 13, 2019

Photo by Tanya Goehring

Vancouver-based textile artist Julia Mior discovered an affinity for machinery when she began building motorcycles with her dad a few years ago. (I'm definitely a power-tools fanatic, she admits with a laugh.) So when she spotted a tufting gun for sale online, she thought, What the heck? and headed to checkout. Less than a year later, the 26-year-old was hooked on rug making. I love the process, she says. It's like meditation for me.

Credit: Photo by Tanya Goehring

That thoughtful process produces artful results: hand-tufted New Zealand wool floor coverings that are decorated with nude forms of the female body. On some rugs, the figures are portrayed through a handful of thick or thin strokesevocative of the works of Henri Matisse and Tracey Eminwhile on others theyre shaded in navy, green or rust, and accompanied by the outlines of Greek vases or palm fronds.

For Mior, the decision to highlight women's bodies emphasizes the role that women have traditionally filled in textile and craft industries. But it also challenges viewers to consider their relationship with the depicted figures. It's this conversation starter that everyone gets to have their own experience with, she says.