Biography

Jesse Aviv grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a grandson of fiber artist Jane Sauer, who gave him his first textile lesson at age eight. He studied chemistry at Emory University on the Woodruff Scholarship and worked as a computational chemist in biotech before committing fully to his art practice in 2023. Aviv founded Free Maison in 2024, working exclusively in chainmail, which he treats as fine textile rather than costume or novelty. He assembles every piece himself, by hand, one ring at a time, and has pioneered the ciphering technique — connecting multiple weaves at varying tensions to achieve unprecedented structure, movement, and form in the medium.