et Cie Studios

September 01, 2020By Sarah Knorr

If you have come into the store in the last two years, chances are you have met Fieldstudy's store manager Julie. Besides being our ride or die, she is also an incredibly talented textile artist. To know Julie is to love her, and we are so lucky to have her and her work represented in the shop.

Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do:

Julie L Turner, textile artist, creator of et Cie Studios and Store Manager of Fieldstudy.

What are your favourite hidden gems of Calgary?

Oat milk Chai lattes from Little Henry, Brunch at Pigeonhole, Pisco Slurpees from Lulu, Shelf Life Books, Memorial Park Library, & the Daily Globe News Shop. I rarely leave my neighborhood.

What part of creating your work do you love the most?

The repetitive nature of the work & piecing together one of a kind fabrics to create a dynamic relationship between the textures & prints. I have always gravitated towards tactile projects that I could do from the comfort of my home.

What do you listen to when your working?

An embarrassing amount of Netflix, Harry Potter & the Sacred Text podcast or the Lo-Fi Beats playlist on Spotify.

Do you have a favorite book or show that has inspired your work?

Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art by Claire Wellesley-Smith and Boro: Rags and Tatters from the Far North of Japan by Koide, Yukiko and Kyoichi Tsuzuki.

What inspired you to start working with vintage Japanese textiles?

I am fascinated by the variety of patterns & their respective meanings. No two fabrics are the same & I love seeing the wear & life the textiles lived before making it’s way to me. My embroidery work throughout University always featured indigo dyed thread & I am eternally obsessed with the deep saturated blues. It wasn’t until I made patchwork pillows from vintage Japanese textiles for my house that inspired me to start et Cie Studios & expand my product offering.

Did you choose to be a textile artist while at ACAD, or did you know before?

I decided very early on in my first semester. I had an amazing instructor Barbara Sutherland who was so supportive & encouraging, she helped me see how I could piece together all of my interests in to one artistic stream. Working with textiles creatively made me look to my past to see that I was always working with Fibre in one way or another & it was very engrained in all the different versions of myself from past to present.

What’s one thing everyone should be doing more of?

Limiting our plastic usage as much as possible. Reuse what you can, buy biodegradable wherever possible & visit your local refillery regularly, my personal favourite is Canary Goods.

You recently traveled to Portugal, what was your favourite part of the trip?

Getting engaged to my partner in crime Justin, he designed a custom engagement ring with a black diamond from Bread & Circus in Toronto. Beyond that, road tripping through the algarve, swimming in the ocean & having a family style Portuguese dinner at our Airbnb in the countryside. I also think daily about the countless Chai Lattes I had at Zenith in Porto.

What is one show everyone should binge watch?

Fleabag.

What are 3 things you are looking forward to in 2020?

Travelling across Scotland in August, seeing Tame Impala live in Toronto, & reading more books than I did last year (I’m bragging, I read 80).

Photos by the talented Sheena Zilinski