When Jule Cats was a young girl her mother had already sensed that she was destined to choose a creative profession because of her interest in all things artistic. A significant event when Cats was 12 years old set her on a lifelong path. “I visited the graduation show of Design Academy Eindhoven during Dutch Design Week when I was in primary school,” she says. “I still remember the feeling I got when I walked into the exhibition, in awe of all the amazing projects and designs.”
Cats studied at the Willem de Kooning Academy, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in product design. Just a year later, in 2016, she opened her eponymous studio. Based in Rotterdam, the artist and designer is known for her bespoke objects for the interior that range from vases to paperweights.
Jule Cats \ Photo: Gabriela Larrea
She is continually inspired by the concept of time, from the way individuals cling to memories to how they experience the present. With materials like water-based resin and mineral powder, her pieces have folds and creases that seem to shift and change, similar to a viewer’s perception.
By carrying a notebook with her, Cats can take her time and record her thoughts. She puts the initial concepts down on paper, writing or sketching, and then reflects upon the elements later. It is a process that helps her in the initial stages of her work when everything is still new and fragile.
For Cats, transformation is poetic, and she savors each phase as a project comes together. “I get very excited when I see my ideas turn into something tangible by making small prototypes,” she explains. “This is the moment where it clicks for me.”
Today, Jule Cats joins us for Friday Five!
1. Rock and Stones
I always find myself looking for interesting stones whenever I’m out in nature. Whether it’s along a riverside, at the beach or in the mountains, a special gradient or texture will always catch my eye.
2. Ever-Changing Skies
The color palettes that the sky offers keep amazing me. I like it when quite unexpected colors come together, like bright pink and soft blue. It motivates me to choose colors for my designs that I otherwise wouldn’t have combined.
3. Demolished Buildings
When a building is in the middle of its demolition process, it offers a glimpse into the lives that have gone on inside. To me it’s a very intimate moment, as if the stones start to reveal their stories. That’s why I like visiting these demolition sites and collect materials to work with.
4. Details in Nature
Whenever I’m out in nature, I keep being surprised by the unintended beauty in certain things. Patterns, shapes, or the way a plant folds itself. I capture the things that surprise me, as a reminder that you don’t always have to overthink a design and to follow your intuition.
5. Making Music
The reason why my creative process usually starts with writing, is probably because I used to write and play songs. I still have the urge to tell a story, but now my medium has turned into something tangible. Still, I like to play music every now and then, because I like the liberating feeling it gives me.
Works by Jule Cats:
Photo: Jacqueline Fuijkschot
SWAY Floor Lamp
This 1,5-meter-high floor lamp looks like a solid marble sculpture, but it’s actually a very lightweight hollow design. In the creating process, I guide the shapes, but I don’t aim for full control. Each piece finds its own unique flow, offering a reminder of the beauty in letting go and allowing things to unfold naturally.
IN DISGUISE Vases
This series was the starting point of my design studio. When I was graduating, I was living in houses which were up for demolition. By combining concrete remains with polyester resin, I started giving discarded materials a new purpose and presence. While at the same time, I revealed the emotional beauty hidden in what is often seen as waste. The series became an international success and encouraged me to dive deeper into this concept.
RISE Table Lamps
The RISE lamps dive deeper into the concept of revealing the beauty of waste. After creating the IN DISGUISE vases, I wanted to expand this idea into a new shape. That’s how the lamps came to life, in which the light is quite literally rising out of the ashes from the demolished buildings. In the bottom layer, in which the remains are integrated, I often use extra pigments to give each lamp a unique touch.
FLOW Wall Piece
My FLOW pieces are very suitable for commissions. They look like they’ve been carved out of marble, and even by touching the surface you might think so. But because I use a liquid resin to create these works, I’m flexible to adjust the sizes. This project was quite special, as it was the longest piece that has been requested so far: 1,80 meters long.
FLOW Tiles
Besides creating big sculptures within the FLOW series, I’ve recently worked on a design which is modular. This design includes individual tiles, which can build up to an artwork in the preferred size of my client. The composition in the picture is 70 cm by 32 cm wide, but I recently installed artwork from 1 meter high and 2 meters wide!
