Julien Vermeulen

Feather Artist

Trained in Lycée Octave Feuillet, the very last French institution for feather craft, Julien Vermeulen graduated from college with two degrees, one in Fashion Design and another in Plastic Arts and Art Sciences. Since 2015, he has been creating unique handmade pieces for prestigious houses such as Yves Saint-Laurent, Dior, Givenchy, Cartier, Lanvin, Schiapparelli or Dolce&Gabbana.

Represented since 2020 by maison parisienne, Julien Vermeulen was exhibited for the first time for his artistic work in the “La Promenade du Collectionneur” exhibition at Hôtel Solvay in Brussels (january 2020). In keeping with the age-old traditions of feather craft, he sets to explore his favorite medium, diversifying the applications of feathers as an artistic material.

Exploring and inventing technical processes that alter their feel, look, color, texture, shape (including crimping, scorching, mounting, braiding, weaving, sewing…), Julien Vermeulen transforms ostrich, peacock, goose, pheasant, turkey feathers in turn into a panel, a mural, a decorative pattern, an ornament or a sculpture.

In 2017, for the Palais de Tokyo’s Espace Toguna in Paris, Julien Vermeulen created the monumental artwork Black Ocean, a 20-square meter wall covered with more than 12,000 turkey feathers, each one hand-cut and hand painted with Indian ink. The duration of this spectacular artwork’s creation was a shocking fifteen days – a thousand hours of hard work and a technical prowess that was rewarded with the “Handcrafts — Exceptional Talents” Prize from the Bettencourt-Schueller Foundation in 2018.

In 2021, Julien Vermeulen’s artwork Black Gem joined the permanent collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. In 2022, he revisits within the framework of the exhibition “Les Aliénés” at the Mobilier National a console from the collections that he adorns with feathers and entitled Eden.

Artworks

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