After moving to North Carolina in 2013, Barcelona-born artisan Judit Just Anteló turned a hobby into a vocation, launching jujujust from her downtown Asheville live-work atelier. Handwoven on two types of looms from thick wool and cotton yarns, satin cords, viscose tassels and vintage silks, her polychromatic creations stem from Catalan craft, a pivotal trip to Morocco and watching her mother as a little girl. “She was always weaving, sewing or crocheting,” Anteló recalls. Following a period spent in fashion school and four years practicing sculpture, she gravitated back to textiles, converging two preferred disciplines for dimensional wall hangings with tufted effects. “It’s like a carpet technique,” she says. “I knot and cut, knot and cut.” Here, Luxe got a little insight into Anteló’s one-of-a-kind works.
Do the sizes of your looms limit you? No, I can make tapestries as big as a buyer wants—actually, the price is the only limit. Shipping weight is the biggest factor. They’re really heavy, my pieces. The largest I’ve made is 48 inches, but I could cover a whole wall, potentially.
Are you inspired by other textile artists? Right now, Sheila Hicks. And I used to live next to the Miró museum; there is a massive tapestry by him—like, 8 meters high—I could stare at forever. Also, Catalan tapestry-maker Josep Grau-Garriga. I saw his work at a great big exhibit at Salon 94 in New York.
Does being deaf in one ear enhance your sensory perception of color or texture? I think I may have synesthesia. It delights me how certain colors mesh together—like yellow, pink and gray, or aubergine, chartreuse and salmon. My bedroom is yellows and oranges and reds and pink. My living room is all blue and mustard. Yeah, I’m a little bit of a color addict. I’m also very tactile; I inherited all these silks from my mom that you cannot get anymore. I hoard them, along with handmade lace.
What’s next on your creative journey? Less made-to-order and more custom commissions, because they’re more interesting to me. I also like having a long lead time to create; pieces are sometimes 12 weeks out. I plan to go in the homewares direction pretty soon, like rugs and pillows.
