Committed to the preservation and activation of natural and cultural heritage, Claudy Jongstra’s signature artworks and architectural installations are handcrafted with regenerative wool and biodynamic plant-based colours that revitalize the connection between visual beauty, material quality and ecological vitality.

Drenthe Heath sheep

The long-fibred, shaggy wool of the Drenthe Heath sheep, which provides strength, durability, and tactility to Jongstra's expressive compositions, exemplifies the symbiotic relationship between artistic and ecological practices that come together at Studio Claudy Jongstra.

Drenthe Heath Sheep are vital to the conservation of Dutch heathlands, a rare habitat containing a delicate balance of biotopes with particularly high value for wildlife biodiversity. Over the past 200 years, 75% of heathlands have been lost to intensive agriculture, development, and climate change. As these threats persist, Drenthe Heath Sheep maintain this protected landscape by grazing, fertilizing, and carrying seeds in their woollen fleeces.

Each spring, the Drenthe Heath sheep’s winter coats are sheared in preparation for warmer weather. Their wool is collected, catalogued, and handwashed in the atelier at Studio Claudy Jongstra in preparation for the dyeing, carding, and felting processes that transform raw wool into refined works of art.

Plant-based colours

Seasonal harvests of pigment plants — including historic species of madder, woad, and weld used for six centuries by Dutch and Flemish master dyers and painters — are distilled into brilliant baths of natural colour in the dyer’s laboratory. The fleeces of freshly washed wool are submerged in these colour baths, where the plant-based colour tones are absorbed into the wool fibres. This ancient, holistic, purely natural method produces clean, vibrant colours without the use of polluting chemical dyes, mordants, or additives.

The resulting palettes of colourful wool fibres reflect the conditions of the landscape—from the vitality of the soil that nurtured each pigment plant, to the quality of life of the sheep whose wool protected them through the year.

Delicate and complex layers

Each artwork palette is further refined in the intricate carding process—the combing of fibres through a small, hand-operated drum to create smooth layers of disentangled wool. Diverse fibre types and colours are blended through the carding process to create sophisticated hues and textures unique to each artwork. The carded wool palette is like a painter’s palette for Jongstra, who builds up each composition in her signature choice of delicate and complex layers.The ancient process of felting forms an unbreakable bond that unites the layers of fibre into a single cloth.

The multitude of layers physically embedded within Claudy’s artworks echo the multitude of layers within her holistic art practice. In 2020, Dr. Ann-Sophie Lehmann delivered a lecture titled Wool’s Consciousness, in which she discussed the broader contribution of Jongstra’s work, achieved through this physical and processual layering.