Tapestries have a long history and have been made since ancient times. A tapestry is a heavy, hand-woven textile art piece featuring intricate, colorful designs. Tapestries are historically used as wall hangings, furniture coverings, or to add insulation to cold homes and rooms.
Tapestries are more than just "fancy rugs for walls." For centuries, they were the ultimate status symbol, blending fine art with practical engineering.
What Is a Tapestry, Really?
A tapestry is a hand-woven textile where the image or pattern is built directly into the weave. Thread by thread, row by row. Unlike printed fabric, where a design is applied on top of an existing surface, a tapestry is constructed from scratch. The image and the material are one and the same thing.
This is also why making one takes time. A lot of time. There are no shortcuts, no machines doing the creative heavy lifting. Every centimeter of a handwoven tapestry is a small decision made by the artist.
At Studio Juuls, every work is made this way, in my Amsterdam atelier, by hand.
A Brief History of Tapestries
Ancient Beginnings
While we often associate tapestries with medieval Europe, tapestry weaving dates back to Ancient Egypt and Greece. Althought these early versions were often used for garments or shroud wrappings rather than massive wall hangings.
Textile art goes back further than most people realise. Fragments of tapestry-woven linen have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs dating back to around 1400 BCE. The Egyptians used the technique for both decorative and ceremonial purposes. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the ancient Andean cultures of Peru were producing extraordinarily fine tapestries using wool from alpaca and llama. Their command of colour and geometric pattern was staggering.
The Textile Museum in Tilburg has some excellent resources on early textile history if you want to go deeper into this.
Textile Fragment from 11th century, Egypt, Fustat, in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Medieval "Mobile Home" Tapestries
In the Middle Ages, tapestries were the ultimate "portable luxury," functioning as both high-end art and essential home tech. Because aristocrats traveled frequently between estates, these massive textiles served as a moveable gallery that could transform a cold, bare stone hall into a lavish throne room in a matter of hours. Beyond their beauty, they provided critical climate control; castles were notoriously damp and drafty, and thick wool hangings acted as thermal barriers by trapping a layer of air against the stone to keep rooms habitable.
These hangings were also the "King’s Billboard," used as powerful propaganda to broadcast wealth and legitimacy. By commissioning scenes of military victories or noble lineage, a ruler could silently intimidate or impress visiting diplomats. The investment was staggering, a single high-quality set could cost more than a battleship. Because a master weaver might only complete one square meter per month, these pieces were often more valuable than the castles they decorated. Common themes included grand hunt scenes, tales of knightly chivalry, and the iconic "millefleurs" style, which filled every inch of the background with thousands of tiny, detailed wildflowers.
Sample of the nearly 70 meter long Bayeux Tapestry from the 11th century.
The Golden Age (14th - 17th Century)
The Golden Age saw tapestries evolve from rugged castle insulation into the most sophisticated art form in the world. Centers like Brussels and Paris became the epicenter of production, where weaving transformed into a high stakes industry that merged painterly detail with incredible craftsmanship. During this era, weavers began working from full scale paintings called cartoons, often designed by legendary artists such as Raphael or Rubens. These designs allowed for a level of realism previously unseen, capturing subtle facial expressions and the soft folds of silk clothing entirely through interlaced threads.
As European monarchs competed for prestige, the materials themselves became more decadent. Fine silk was mixed with wool to create shimmering highlights, while threads wrapped in genuine silver and gold were woven into the fabric to reflect candlelight during evening banquets. These masterpieces were no longer just wall coverings; they were massive, woven frescos that draped entire rooms in narratives of classical mythology and biblical history. Owning a collection from a renowned workshop was the ultimate sign of absolute power, signaling that a ruler possessed both the immense wealth and the cultural taste to command the finest artisans in existence.
Short documentary "The Art of Hanging Tapestries" by Sharpshoot Media and St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation.
The Modern Thread
By the twentieth century, the industrial roar of the power loom had nearly silenced the traditional craft, but a group of visionary artists sparked a dramatic revival. Modern masters such as Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Jean Lurçat began to view the loom not as a relic of the past, but as a bold new canvas for abstraction. Lurçat in particular rejected the idea that tapestries should simply look like woven paintings. He advocated for a return to the medium's roots, utilizing thick wool and vibrant, simplified color palettes that celebrated the raw texture of the fiber itself. This movement transformed tapestry into a medium for social commentary and psychological depth, proving that an ancient technique could remain relevant in a world of rapid digital change.
Today, this storied history continues through the work of contemporary designers who bridge the gap between historical heritage and modern aesthetics. Studio Juuls carries this legacy into the twenty-first century by offering a collection that honors the tactile warmth of the past while embracing a clean, sophisticated sensibility. Their tapestries move away from the dense, heavy narratives of the medieval era and instead focus on soft textures and serene patterns that bring a sense of calm to a room. Much like the weavers of the Golden Age who sought to balance luxury with artistry, these modern pieces are designed to act as the soul of a home, providing a soft architectural element that anchors a space.
Why Tapestry Matters Today
Contemporary textile art is having a serious moment. There is a growing awareness among collectors and art lovers that fibre-based work has been undervalued for a long time, partly because of gendered assumptions about what counts as fine art versus craft. That conversation is shifting, and it is shifting fast.
For me personally, working in Amsterdam, I am surrounded by a city with a rich mercantile history deeply tied to textiles. The Dutch Golden Age was built partly on the textile trade. There is something that feels right about making this kind of work here.
What I love about tapestry is that it forces slowness. In a world of fast images and instant content, weaving is a radical act of patience. Each work takes weeks or months. You cannot rush it. And the result carries that time inside it.
If you want to see how this translates into actual works, you can browse the current collection at Studio Juuls and see pieces made right here in the centre of Amsterdam.
Tapestry Versus Other Textile Art Forms
People often ask me what the difference is between a tapestry and other textile artworks. It is a fair question.
- Weaving is the broadest category. All tapestries are woven, but not all woven textiles are tapestries. A tapestry is specifically a weft-faced weave, meaning the horizontal threads (weft) completely cover the vertical structure (warp). The image is formed entirely in the weft.
- Embroidery works on top of an existing fabric surface. The thread is stitched into a base cloth. The Bayeux Tapestry, despite its name, is actually an embroidery.
- Jacquard weaving uses a mechanical loom to create patterned textiles. It is technically impressive but not the same as handweaving. The hand is removed from the equation in a fundamental way.
- Macramé and knotting are related but distinct techniques, using knots rather than weaving to build up a textile surface.
Each technique has its own qualities. I work primarily with woven tapestry because I love the way colour behaves in weft-faced weave. The colours interact differently than in paint. They optically mix. From a distance, a tapestry can look like a painting, but up close it reveals its textile nature completely.
Living With Textile Art: What to Know
One question I hear from collectors is how to care for a handwoven tapestry. A few practical points worth knowing:
Keep textile art away from direct sunlight. Prolonged UV exposure will fade colours over time, even with lightfast dyes. This is true for all artworks, but textile is particularly vulnerable.
Dust accumulates on tapestries the way it does on any textile surface. A very gentle vacuum on low suction, with a soft mesh placed over the nozzle, works well for regular maintenance.
Hanging matters. A tapestry should hang from a rod slipped through a sleeve sewn on the back, or from a series of small hooks. The weight needs to be distributed evenly. A single nail in the centre will distort the weave over time.
For more on the works available and their care, read our Practical Care Guide for Maintainance of Tapestries and Textile Art.
The Amsterdam Textile Scene
Amsterdam is not usually the first city people think of when it comes to textile art, but it has a lively and underrated community of fibre artists. The city's creative infrastructure, the open ateliers, the art fairs, the strong tradition of applied arts, all make it a genuinely good place to work in this medium.
The Rijksmuseum holds a significant collection of historical textiles, including some remarkable 17th-century pieces connected to the Dutch trade in luxury textiles. Worth seeing if you are in the city.
Every year the open ateliers in neighbourhoods like the Jordaan give people a rare look inside working studios. It is one of my favourite Amsterdam traditions. There is something irreplaceable about seeing work in the space where it was made.
Our 21st Century collection
Discover our full collection of tapestries below.
