Returning to the beginning..

What do we need to call ourselves artists? A professional education? Gallery representation? Sales figures? Or simply enough self-confidence to say the words out loud?

I believe the answer is different for everyone. A creative career is rarely a straight line, and it certainly does not follow a textbook path. For me, it took many years after graduating from art college to truly call myself a textile artist and now I am sharing this story with you.

Over Christmas, I visited my husband’s family on the Isle of Man and returned to a particular beach I first visited almost twenty years ago. Back then, I was his girlfriend, finishing my textile studies and preparing my diploma work. Last week, standing on the same beach with our three children, I realised something important: my deep fascination with natural textures and surfaces began right there, on the very same spot. Somehow, I had forgotten the very beginning of it all.

Revisiting the beach, where I fell in love with textures & surfaces more than 20 years ago.

At the time of my first visit, I had already chosen the theme and techniques for my diploma, but finding those stone textures gave me clarity and direction. That trip directly influenced a collection of machine-knitted and felted scarves I made for my final work. One of those scarves is still hanging in my studio today—it was given to my grandmother many years ago and, after her passing, found its way back to me.

Photos of the stone textures and knitted surfaces for my diploma work "Woven Landscapes".

This experience made me think of my whole journey as a textile artist. 

As a child, I was always making things—drawing, painting, knitting, sewing. As a teenager, I preferred staying home to paint or make clothes rather than going to parties. Before art college, my first “textile artworks” were machine-sewn quilts, made purely for pleasure. I was fortunate to have inspiring art and craft teachers, so choosing to study textiles felt like a natural step.

I was never interested in fashion. What drew me in was material, surface, and technique—the slow process of experimenting and learning through making.

During my textile studies, I took a five-day felting course in Finland while being an exchange student there. That short experience quietly changed everything. After graduating, I lived in England for three years and only occasionally made something with my hands. Later, after moving back to the Estonian countryside, we started a sheep farm, and I began teaching myself felting through all the felting books I could find on Amazon. In that sense, I am largely self-taught—and it has confirmed my belief that making is one of the most powerful ways to learn.

Like many feltmakers, I started with making accessories, mostly scarves but also some home decor products. At the same time, my children were born and I felt lucky enough to squeeze odd hours for feltmaking. Gradually, I had more time for felting, but after some years, I got mentally and physically tired of making scarves and I decided to accept a job as a part-time art teacher at the local school.

Selection of some of my nunofelted scarves made some years ago.

So, this was in 2017, when I made my first-ever felted wall hanging. The wall hanging was only 50x50 cm, but for me, this was the exact moment when I actually called myself a textile artist despite my formal art education and years of working with different techniques and textile materials. 

My first-ever wall hanging was made in 2017.

Since then, I have mainly been working with creating felted wall hangings, first with familiar fibres from my accessory-making times, later with more sustainable materials from my own wool flock. Recently, I have been playing around with creating textures in other mediums as well (tapestry weaving, tufting), as learning new skills, moving forward and developing myself has always been an important part of my creative life.

As you can see, my journey has not been straight; it has been shaped by many more and less intentional moments, decisions and long periods of quiet learning, working and experimenting. Sometimes I wonder where different paths would have taken me by now. Creativity has always been a massive part of my life; it just found different moments and ways to emerge and float to the surface throughout many years. 

Working with both children and adults has strengthened my belief that everyone can be creative. Some people find it easily; others need time, structure, and encouragement. Today, more than ever, it feels important to say that it is never too late to begin. The process matters more than the outcome.  I believe that we need to follow our heart and somehow I have always found my way back to felting as it truly offers so many opportunities and possibilities to experiment. 

Returning to that beach reminded me how deeply my work is rooted in observing nature. My fascination with textures and surfaces has only grown, and I love how differently each person interprets the same landscape. This is one of the core values behind my online course Textures & Surfaces, which is running again this year.

Returning to these memories and textures brought so much joy and inspiration, which will shape my next collection of wall hangings. This time I want to play around with more different techniques and materials, so it is truly a never-ending journey..

One of the textures captured on my trip to the Isle of Man.

I am sharing images of older works here to show how my practice has evolved—and how many paths it took to arrive where I am now. Finding my way was not easy. It involved years of experimentation, uncertainty, failure, but mostly learning and working.

All of that experience is woven into my online course, The Art of Felting, which begins again in February 2026. I have made some changes to the course to offer more knowledge, help and support. This second round is eight weeks long, allowing more time for each step of the process, more individual calls and personal feedback. The design process chapter focuses more on composition principles as composition elements are used quite differently in textile art. While the main focus remains on making felted wall hangings, the deeper aim is to help each student find their own inspiration, voice and artistic language.

If you are wondering where your own journey might lead, you can find more information about the course here. Registration is now open, and we begin on 2 February.

And returning to the beginning created new dreams. Maybe one day we can all meet on this beach on the Isle of Man for a felting retreat?!