Indrė Matuliokaitė - LITHUANIA
“Indrė Matuliokaitė is a Lithuanian linen designer and maker whose work is based on the foundations of slow fashion, natural materials, and an intuitive connection with the land around her. She spent several years, in London, where she studied interior design and jewelry making and first discovered her love for the tactility, honesty, and quiet beauty of linen fabric. After returning home to Lithuania she began creating clothing that reflects a natural, timeless aesthetic.
Her journey into natural plant dyeing began unexpectedly. Working with synthetic-dyed linen fabrics, Indrė developed painful rashes on her fingertips. For a moment, she thought her colorful linen days were over and that she would have to now limit herself to using raw, undyed grey linen. Only later, when she came across the historical use of plant pigments, did a new path open. She stepped into the world of botanical dyes, and it completely transformed her creative practice.
Today, Indrė gathers many of her dye materials herself. She walks through meadows picking herbs, collects walnut tree leaves and hulls in her garden, and gathers oak branches and acorns in the forest near her home. She dries these plants and stores them for the winter, building a palette of nature’s colors harvested by her own hands.
Indrė approaches dyeing more intutively; she doesn’t calculate precise amounts while collecting material, instead letting the process unfold as naturally as possible. She loves the moment of revealing each piece, often met with beautiful and unexpected results. Blending two colors, layering botanical tones, or combining different weights and textures of linen are some of her favorite parts of the craft. Every creation carries the marks of nature, chance, and the gentle unpredictability of the dye pot.
Linen has a beauty, what feels alive. Its surface is never still or boring: the natural creases, the shifting woven threads, and the way it catches light create a unique movement that keeps the fabric endlessly interesting. The shades of undyed grey linen are especially mesmerizing: soft, earthy, full of subtle variations, each one carrying the memory of the flax plant it came from.
Linen garments also feel good on the body being cool, breathable, and comforting. And one thing that especially fascinates Indrė is how linen remembers the wearer: Gently holding the shape of the body even after its taken off, as if the fabric keeps a trace of the person who wore it. Linen is alive in this way, always responding, always telling a story.”
-Taken from Indrė Matuliokaitė (with slight adjustments)
Instagram: @_ingile_
