“What appeals to me about textiles is their tactile, sensory quality and their ability to soothe what lies deep within us”
Born in 1983, Émilie Chaumet trained in Industrial Design and Fine Arts in Tours. Based in Grenoble, she creates textile works conceived as an archaeology of the senses. Rooted in a family heritage, she has transformed these “needleworks”—historically reserved for women and domestic use—into an artistic practice.
Her artistic language revolves around the concept of sedimentation. Émilie Chaumet works with emotion as a raw material, organised into layers through a process of accumulation, compression and shifting. Within the depth of her ‘matrix bodies’, she evokes memories, both immediate and nostalgic. Her sculptures explore the formation of our identity and the way our postures take shape. Her relationship with time is rooted in the repetition of gestures — sewing, knotting, embroidering — textile rituals often practised collectively, which she champions as a source of strength.
Her work has gained recognition both nationally and internationally. In 2024, she received two honours: she was awarded the Gold Medal in the textile section at the Salon des Beaux-Arts and was granted a creative grant.
Her career has been marked by participation in major textile art events:
- Fantastic Fiber at Yeiser Art Center (United States), 2022
- Miniartextil inCôme (Italy), 2022
- Biennale Objet Textile #4 at Manufacture of Roubaix, 2024
- Cachan Biennale, selected for the 2020 and 2025 editions