In Sète, Claire Schneider creates textile works inspired by materials and human encounters

Claire Schneider travaille sur deux métiers à tisser : l'un manuel et l'autre électronique. Midi Libre – W. N.

The weaver, based on Rue Député-Molle in Sète, is keen to share her know-how and her art. 

Red, green, purple, glittery… Wool, linen, raffia… Dozens of spools of thread are arranged along the shelf that occupies a section of the wall of Claire Schneider's workshop. “I never counted how many I had but it comes from years of thrifting”, notes the artist based on rue Député-Molle. More surprising materials rub shoulders with this quantity of raw materials: small rolls of paper, films or even plants.

Which are regularly found in the creations of this textile artist who admits to drawing her inspiration from materials… but also from human encounters. This is evidenced by this imposing work, currently in progress, which adorns another wall of her studio. Made from oat stalks, dates, rushes or even raffia and poppy, it echoes the work of a young cabinetmaker who came to intern with the weaver. “She told me about her inspirations and I also wanted to work with plants using scrolls and curves like her”, explains Claire Schneider, surrounded by her two looms.

A first loom at 10 years old

After spending ten years in the Cévennes as head of the cultural venue La Filature du Mazel, the artist settled in the Île Singulière seven years ago. For the “artistic dynamism” of the city. And to devote herself entirely to her passion, weaving. A technique she discovered at the age of 10 when her mother gave her a small loom. For this dyslexic child for whom school was “complicated”, it was a revelation: “My brain clicked. I felt successful”.

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At 16, she left her native Alsace for Lyon, where she joined the Jacquard loom weaving at the Diderot School of Textile Industries. Then she headed to the capital, where she studied at the National Textile Art Workshop, then worked for a while in fashion. But the constraints that this industry entailed did not please the young woman: “I didn't have enough freedom in terms of my creation”.

Origin of the Tisseuse de liens association

In 2021, Claire Schneider created the association Tisseuse de liens with which she collaborates with four other artists from Sète. After having carried out an initial project in the Île de Thau district, the structure has been offering an action in Frontignan since last June. Through the textile practices of the inhabitants, the project is to create as many flags as there are ways of experiencing one's city. The visual artists intervene in this capacity in schools, neighborhood committees, retirement homes and homes for people with disabilities. Printed flags that will be exhibited in public spaces in 2026. 

“At first, people told me I wasn't an artist”

The weaver claims to be an artist first and foremost, which wasn't necessarily obvious at first. “Today, textile art is becoming more democratic, but at first people told me I wasn't an artist. It was hard to assert myself as one”, assures the sixty-year-old. Who, to continue her training, flew to India and then to Indonesia. There she learned the basics of ikat, a dyeing and weaving process in which the design is created by first dyeing the weft thread. “I'm always experimenting”, says the artist who will also be leaving for Japan next March with the aim of creating a work using this technique.

A project among many others. The artist is currently preparing an exhibition near Clermont-Ferrand where, as she regularly does, she will offer workshops on weaving. A desire to share her art and know-how that is part of her DNA, since she also offers training in her Sète workshop. On the Singular Island, she has set up a collective of women artists, always in this sharing of know-how. “Everyone can bring things to each other“, assures Claire Schneider. In this sense, she collaborates with a Sète dyer, in particular for her creations dyed in indigo. A “deep blue” that can be found in some of the creations exhibited in her studio alongside other works made with peacock feathers or plastic. “Recycled”, the weaver is keen to point out. Inspiration is definitely hidden everywhere.

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