Arbre de la vie, envisioned by Yanis Miltgen, is more than a textile sculpture – it’s a large-scale project that is aesthetic, technical, and deeply committed. It aims to reconnect artistic crafts, exceptional workmanship, and ecological consciousness. Comprising 27 handmade fruits and flowers, this monumental tree celebrates the diversity of living beings while questioning their fragility in the face of climate change.

This textile creation brings together disciplines rarely united in a single piece: fine embroidery, artistic knitting, featherwork, iron forging. Each element carries a specific know-how – studied, passed down, perfected. The tree becomes a textile manifesto, a hybrid between tradition and vision, between heritage and utopia.

An idea born from refusing boundaries

During his studies, Yanis Miltgen noticed a tendency to separate artistic disciplines. While others stuck to a single technique, he imagined a work that would unite them all. The idea truly took root when he realized he could bring it to life: gathering the finest craftsmanship to create something meaningful, beautiful, and symbolic.
The project is both a tribute to traditional crafts and a quiet plea for biodiversity. A textile tree, but also a tree of meaning, where each branch holds a promise and each fruit tells a story.

A path full of obstacles

Like any ambitious creation, Arbre de la vie faced challenges. A difficult collaboration with a partner organisation nearly jeopardized access to key materials. Recovering them required time, perseverance, and determination.
But rather than give up, Yanis pushed forward. He gathered interns from across Europe, mobilized new energies, and reignited the project with renewed purpose.

A tree in bloom

Today, Arbre de la vie is nearly complete – just a few hours of final assembly remain before the full majesty of the piece can be revealed. The artist’s satisfaction is immense. Watching each flower and fruit take shape by hand has been a constant source of joy.

Among the memorable moments of the project: discovering the many varieties of lemons. While knitting these familiar fruits, Yanis realized the astonishing diversity of nature – how rich and singular it is. Every fruit, every flower is unique. Just like each craft, each hand, each perspective on the world.

A bridge to the world

Arbre de la vie was never meant to stand still. It is meant to travel. The artist hopes to present it at international art and design fairs – meeting galleries, collectors, architects, and all those who recognize in it both a message and a gesture of beauty.
At heart, the piece is also a living calling card – a personal and artistic manifesto. Yanis Miltgen invests not only his skill in the work, but also his worldview: open, bold, curious, and resolutely future-facing.

Embroidering the future

Driven by a deep passion for his craft, Yanis sees creation as a vital necessity – a way to translate the world’s complexity into form, into material, into meaning.
“Let’s embroider the future” is his motto: an invitation to use art as a tool for healing, for awareness, and for beauty. A call to stitch connection, to weave life back together, to intertwine technique with imagination.

A message for tomorrow

Through this work, the artist shares one final, quiet truth: “Even the most difficult life is so incredibly beautiful.” A sentence that reads like an ode to resilience, gratitude, and the wonder of the world around us. A reminder to slow down, observe, and create – so we don’t forget that, despite everything, the world remains inhabitable. But only if we care for it.