Malachai Cribdon is the artist behind House of Felts, where creatures and characters are sculpted with patience, texture, and heart. He works primarily in mixed felts, repurposed and antique fabrics, and anything else that might serve the story — from florist wires to scorched silk. Every figure is built from scratch, with hand-formed cores and the occasional wire to hold a gesture in place.

His creatures are imagined through close observation — not just of the animal itself, but the feeling it gives. Though rooted in realism, Malachai adds a touch of his own perspective to each one — a small twist of character or an expression glimpsed, perhaps, in a dream.

But the world doesn’t end with the creature: each scene, plinth, or architectural detail they inhabit is also hand-built by Malachai — from cobbled floors and dusty skirting boards to the backdrop of a crumbling parlour wall. These are not just characters; they are living moments in miniature, lovingly preserved.

Guided by themes of magical realism and a fascination with Victoriana and Edwardian sensibilities, Malachai creates realms that feel close enough to step into — as though one has wandered somewhere familiar but long forgotten. The realism is deliberate; each tableau is designed to blur the lines of time and memory.

His sculptures are sealed behind glass as future antiques: heirloom objects crafted to outlive their maker. Yet they are far more than ornamental. Letters are stitched into limbs. Tiny envelopes hidden beneath garments. Some secrets are buried so deeply they might never be found — unless dismantled by a curious future soul. These are time capsules, layered in story and silence.

Some of Malachai’s latest pieces are already in the process of becoming mechanically animated, allowing scenes to gently stir or breathe with life — not to perform, but to quietly continue, even when no one is watching. Just as they always have.

Each piece is a vessel of memory and mystery — an object that remembers.