Mara Arts (b. 1991) is a Dutch artist and material-driven designer, trained in Engineering: Product Design in Amsterdam.
Her graduation project focused on material research, developing acoustic objects from natural and recycled resources.
Her graduation project focused on material research, developing acoustic objects from natural and recycled resources.
Over the past decade, she has worked across the fields of art, design, and recycling, with a particular focus on textile and plastic waste streams. This hands-on experience continues to inform her practice, in which material experimentation and circular thinking play a central role.
She is currently based in the United States.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I work with materials that carry memory. My practice explores how discarded fibers and overlooked remnants can be reactivated through processes of transformation and careful assembly.
I work with a wide range of materials ; natural, reclaimed, and biobased, chosen for their origin, quality, and the histories they hold. Through processes of compression, layering, and spatial assembly, I create surfaces and wall-based sculptures in which materials enter new relationships.
I am interested in how materials not only carry history, but also shape their surroundings ; absorbing, reflecting, or filtering light and sound.
Growing up in an environment where repair was part of everyday life shaped my sensitivity to materials. My grandmother mended socks, saved buttons, and kept leftover wool; materials were not discarded, but remained in circulation, awaiting transformation.
My work is not about nostalgia, but about attention. It considers how fragments of the past can be reactivated into new forms and contexts, through a practice grounded in care, curiosity, and material dialogue.