I'm Marlijn, the person behind Studio Bluem. I've been obsessed with textiles for as long as I can remember.

I studied Fashion in Amsterdam, specialised in denim, and spent some years working in product development and production for denim brands. I knew the industry pretty well. The factories, the supply chains, the fittings, the waste. And slowly, I came to realize I wanted something different.

"Eventually, I wanted to go deeper into the materials themselves."

During the pandemic I lost my job and started making. First it was dresses, flowy and made to order, sewn for real people. I made a lot of them for so many really great and sweet customers, and it was one of the best things I've ever done. But eventually I wanted to go deeper into the materials themselves.

Studio Bluem is now a studio practice built around natural dyeing, weaving, knitting, quilting and patchwork. I'm especially drawn to indigo and the centuries of Japanese craft tradition behind it. I also work with madder, weld, avocado, onion skin and whatever else the season brings. The yarns and fabrics I dye by hand become wall hangings, quilts and occasionally a simple, considered garment.

Everything is made slowly, in my atelier in Utrecht. I don't have a production schedule. Just a dye pot, a loom, some sewing machines, my hands, and a lot of curiosity.