Dieter Filler

Home / The artists / Contemporary quilts / Dieter Filler

Contemporary quilts, Multi-fiber art
2023
Artist's country: Germany, Switzerland

After studying art and handicraft education, Dieter Filler could only fulfil his artistic ambitions in his free time, mainly with clay creations or with bookbinding work. It was upon moving to Switzerland in 1993 that he first discovered patchwork. Thanks to various courses, he learnt traditional techniques that he quickly developed into new materials and processes and which led him to textile art. In the meantime, it is always a challenge for him to find new ways of expanding his range of expression. Many exhibitions followed.

Lately, his works have been met with great success: in 2020, 55 of his works were presented in Menton, in the south of France. In 2021, he won first prize in a France Patchwork contest and his work was included on the poster of the 2021 European Patchwork Meeting (26^th show), and in 2022 he also won first prize in France Patchwork’s Artextures contest.

Inspirations

Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines

A word, half a sentence, taken from a conversation on the train between two fellow passengers. A quote or a significant sentence read in an interesting book; nature with its manifold patterns and structures, the beauty of a material, a social phenomenon that questions the effects of our wasteful society, all these elements provoke fantasies and allow ideas to develop which want to be realised with Dieter Filler’s own means of expression. One wants to integrate very interesting but little known materials into a picture. Certain colours make you think about the value and meaning of colour and the urge to work with it. The techniques and materials used in the production are as varied and diverse as the sources of inspiration. Textile art is the joy of transforming different materials to achieve a new aesthetic.

Dieter Filler: “I always feel that there are not enough days for all of the ideas, plans and dreams that are floating around in my head.” Techniques and materials used… A whole range of textiles are used including synthetic fabrics, sometimes melted, as well as metal, PET bottles, packaging material, felt, polyethylene tarpaulins, bark or glass. An embossed third dimension has been included. The techniques vary from traditional patchwork to new techniques developed by the artist himself.