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A post shared by Zoe Gilbertson (@zoegilbertson)

“Visually I want to create something modern and relevant to contemporary art today and the digital references are formed through the design of the artwork,” relayed Gilbertson in an interview with Venison Magazine. Indeed, her color composition might remind you of a digital, pixelized modern artwork.

Her work includes color studies of gradients moving through shades and single color studies and exploration of fades, gradients, and geometry. Seen from a distance, you might not realize the intricate stitching that goes into each piece.

“Sometimes I plan out a work in advance digitally and intricately,” explains Gilbertson. Other times, she’ll “stitch straight onto the canvas with only a vague plan in mind.” Her materials are also a mix of the traditional and the more contemporary and include wool, spraypaint, and tapestry canvas.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Zoe Gilbertson (@zoegilbertson)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Zoe Gilbertson (@zoegilbertson)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Zoe Gilbertson (@zoegilbertson)

The post Zoe Gilbertson Explores Color and Geometry Through Hand Stitching appeared first on MobiSpirit.

But curiously enough, Grisdela is the first quilter in her family. She’s also the first to treat her hobby as a full-time job, showcasing her quilts in fine art and fine craft shows nationwide.

Based in Reston, VA, Grisdela finds inspiration for her contemporary wall quilts from the view of nature outside her window. “Pebbles on the path or currents in water might become part of the texture I stitch into each piece,” she writes poetically. “Color combinations in bird feathers or flowering plants might slip into the palette I use to start my next design.”

The process itself relies on intuition, a technique she learned through trial and error and which she compares to jazz music, with both forms of art relying on improvisation. “Putting colors together intuitively, I like to use fabric the way a painter might use paint to create graphic compositions that engage the viewer from a distance, yet invite a closer look,” explains Grisdela.

The end result, though colorful and sometimes chaotic, has a rhythm of its own, reminding of the organic movement and patterns found outdoors. Take a look for yourself.

The post This Textile Artist is an Improv Quilter appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Working alongside textile designer Paula Downes, Nedialkova draws and designs each pattern printed on her products, after which the color scheme and fabric are chosen, with the chosen materials meant to last a long while. “My illustrations are a mix between the Scandinavian aesthetic and Bulgarian folk tales,” explained Nedialkova in an interview with Etsy’s blog, “and they’re also influenced by Bulgarian artists from the ’70s who created these beautiful logo types.”

Originally from Bulgaria, Nedialkova draws inspiration from the places she visited around the world. “I’m Bulgarian originally, but I’ve also lived in Brighton, UK, which is a beautiful town with old architecture,” she notes. “There are amazing decorations and patterns on the houses—circles and ornaments. I translate those into illustrations as well.”

But her creative passion sparked a lot earlier than that. “Something that influenced me from a young age was the drive people had to decorate and personalize their living spaces with found materials, and find beauty in the simplest of objects,” she says. You’d want to see what she has to offer.

The post From Tea Towels to Oven Mitts: This Brand Will Upgrade Your Kitchen appeared first on MobiSpirit.

“I took a scarf weaving class and was completely hooked,” she recalled in an interview with The Project for Women. “Ever since I have been taking as many weaving classes as I can and reading books and trying out different techniques.”

What began as a simple way to pass the time would soon blossom into her life’s work. Now, with little over 60k followers on Instagram, Shimek exhibits her work worldwide and teaches her learned techniques through weaving workshops.

Over the years, Shimek has become recognized for her massive woven wall hangings. Exploring the fibers’ organic movement, Shimek’s weaving style allows the fibers to fall into an indeterminate pattern that reveals the beauty and vulnerability of her materials. Amongst her acquired techniques are tapestry and Navajo weaving, rigid heddle, and floor loom weaving.

“I wasn’t an artist before I started weaving and honestly felt pretty intimidated to jump in and meet all these people who have been working in these fields for years,” she admits. But she shouldn’t have been intimidated. “The weaving community especially has been amazing,” says Shimek. “All these wonderful people sharing their work and explaining techniques, it really resonates with me.”

The post Meghan Shimek’s Obsession With Weaving Turned Into Her Life’s Work appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Born in Japan, Mizushima majored in Japanese traditional painting before working as a designer and Illustrator in Tokyo. But after some moving around, she found she was much more drawn to craft than art. Now based in Vancouver, Canada, she describes herself as a slow crafter, with her work including needle felting, miniature collage making, and stop-motion animation videos.

As part of her work, Mizushima has been commissioned to make music videos for the band They Might Be Giants, and has made miniature collages for several book covers in Japan.

“It takes a long time to make a needle-felted piece,” she remarked in an interview with Frankie, “especially for me (I’m a slow crafter). It has also crippled me! (Seriously, I have been having a problem in my shoulder and arm for months!)”

“My work is a bit retro, twisted, fun, colorful, nerdy, and cute (but in questionable taste),” she adds. “Luckily I usually make what I want. And I hope my work can make people smile!”

Indeed, if her work doesn’t make you smile, we regret to say that nothing will.

The post Hiné Mizushima Takes Needle Felting to the Next Level appeared first on MobiSpirit.

“My work is heavily influenced by a particular museum that I discovered at the age of eleven while I was studying at a performing arts boarding school in Tring, UK,” she admitted in an interview with Enchanted Living Magazine. “The Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum is famous for holding one of the finest collections of stuffed mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects, and this amazing collection of animals is what triggered my obsession with taxidermy.”

And so, fueled by her childhood memories, she took to fabric, thread, and paint, creating an unbelievable realistic collection of faux taxidermy, that consists of insects and other small creatures. While taxidermy still greatly inspires her work, her creative process requires a different set of tools and thankfully, no animals are harmed in the process.

“One evening, I randomly decided to dust off my old sewing machine and rekindled my love for textiles,” she recalled. “I gradually began to incorporate fabrics and machine and hand embroidery into my wire creations at the very end of 2017.” Her progress on that front alone is remarkable.

The post Emily Yeadon Creates Faux Taxidermy Out of Fabric appeared first on MobiSpirit.

According to Marañon, her creative process relies on intuition and spontaneity, using geometric shapes and techniques that include repetition. The result is an abstract landscape where the hand of the artist is present, drawing attention to the texture and weight of the materials being used.

“I love exploring all sorts of possible outcomes by simply playing around with color, fabric, print, and texture,” Marañon shared with Brown Paper Bag. “I am inspired most when I’m working, and ideas come in a frenzied rush and I just have to try new ways to lay out shapes, or new ways to mix mediums,” she adds. According to her, experimentation and fun fuel her quilted projects.

“I began quilting late 2013 when working for a fabric manufacturer,” she recalled. “I’d done many digital quilt designs there and understood the basic steps and terminology, and I thought that was enough to start on a project on my own. I dove right into a king-sized quilt using that experience.”

The rest was history.

The post Textile Artist Plays Around With Color, Fabric, and Texture appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Based in Melbourne, her work includes illustrating books for children and collaborating with her creative friend, Isobel Knowles, under the name Soft Stories. But it’s her plush toys, or rather, soft sculptures, that really made a splash. All completely hand sewn, her pieces are made without using a pattern, so that each one is a stand-alone work.

As such, her work—though undeniably playful— isn’t meant to be played with, but rather, admired from a safe distance. “I like my work to engage a wide audience, so there are elements that appeal to young children and also an older generation,” says Rabbit. “My main objective when creating new work for exhibition is to incite feelings of comfort, joy and nostalgia – when I make a piece that encapsulates all of these elements, I am satisfied with the work!”

Her whimsical characters include a croissant-headed creature and anthropomorphized mushrooms. “I like to devise new characters all the time!” says Rabbit. “I get an idea in my head or sketch something out and am not satisfied until I work it up into a 3D character.”

Take a look at some of her work in the gallery below.

The post Cat Rabbit Makes Nostaltic Plush Toys For Adults appeared first on MobiSpirit.

An interior designer and model maker, Dance specializes in crafting models and props used in advertising campaigns, editorial commissions, window displays, and art installations. Her selected clients include brands like Christian Louboutin, Google, Mulberry, and Selfridges, making her seemingly ordinary objects a novelty that’s high on demand.

“I’m often inspired by very ‘normal’ everyday items, items that portray the luxury of choice and comfort in the western world,” she remarks. “I always aim for my work to be graphical, with a playful edge,” she adds. Her day to day includes sculpting, knitting or stitching.

According to Dance, knitting and embroidery are typically perceived as “feminine crafts”. However, she aims to take gender out of the equation when it comes to her work itself. “I always strive to produce a carefully considered design, with a strong concept, using quality materials,” she stressed.

The post These Objects’ Uniqueness Lies in Their Simplicity appeared first on MobiSpirit.

According to Kingswell, her love of color goes all the way back to her childhood, when she sorted her colored pencils into pleasing sequences. “Color! I love it when it creates drama and impact, when it dances before your eyes, when it stirs the soul and fires the imagination,” she writes on her website.

Her love of textile came later, having earned a degree in communications design and after a fruitful career as a graphic designer. “I get pleasure from creating things,” says Kingswell, “things that are so much more than the sum of their parts – finding new patterns by exploring the beauty of color, number, sequence, and proportion through the medium of fabric.”

Her aim with her work? To lift spirits and make people smile. “And also intrigue them a little!” A good enough cause as any.

The post Textile + Color = Alexandra Kingswell’s Original Artwork appeared first on MobiSpirit.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Zoe Gilbertson (@zoegilbertson)

“Visually I want to create something modern and relevant to contemporary art today and the digital references are formed through the design of the artwork,” relayed Gilbertson in an interview with Venison Magazine. Indeed, her color composition might remind you of a digital, pixelized modern artwork.

Her work includes color studies of gradients moving through shades and single color studies and exploration of fades, gradients, and geometry. Seen from a distance, you might not realize the intricate stitching that goes into each piece.

“Sometimes I plan out a work in advance digitally and intricately,” explains Gilbertson. Other times, she’ll “stitch straight onto the canvas with only a vague plan in mind.” Her materials are also a mix of the traditional and the more contemporary and include wool, spraypaint, and tapestry canvas.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Zoe Gilbertson (@zoegilbertson)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Zoe Gilbertson (@zoegilbertson)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Zoe Gilbertson (@zoegilbertson)

The post Zoe Gilbertson Explores Color and Geometry Through Hand Stitching appeared first on MobiSpirit.

But curiously enough, Grisdela is the first quilter in her family. She’s also the first to treat her hobby as a full-time job, showcasing her quilts in fine art and fine craft shows nationwide.

Based in Reston, VA, Grisdela finds inspiration for her contemporary wall quilts from the view of nature outside her window. “Pebbles on the path or currents in water might become part of the texture I stitch into each piece,” she writes poetically. “Color combinations in bird feathers or flowering plants might slip into the palette I use to start my next design.”

The process itself relies on intuition, a technique she learned through trial and error and which she compares to jazz music, with both forms of art relying on improvisation. “Putting colors together intuitively, I like to use fabric the way a painter might use paint to create graphic compositions that engage the viewer from a distance, yet invite a closer look,” explains Grisdela.

The end result, though colorful and sometimes chaotic, has a rhythm of its own, reminding of the organic movement and patterns found outdoors. Take a look for yourself.

The post This Textile Artist is an Improv Quilter appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Working alongside textile designer Paula Downes, Nedialkova draws and designs each pattern printed on her products, after which the color scheme and fabric are chosen, with the chosen materials meant to last a long while. “My illustrations are a mix between the Scandinavian aesthetic and Bulgarian folk tales,” explained Nedialkova in an interview with Etsy’s blog, “and they’re also influenced by Bulgarian artists from the ’70s who created these beautiful logo types.”

Originally from Bulgaria, Nedialkova draws inspiration from the places she visited around the world. “I’m Bulgarian originally, but I’ve also lived in Brighton, UK, which is a beautiful town with old architecture,” she notes. “There are amazing decorations and patterns on the houses—circles and ornaments. I translate those into illustrations as well.”

But her creative passion sparked a lot earlier than that. “Something that influenced me from a young age was the drive people had to decorate and personalize their living spaces with found materials, and find beauty in the simplest of objects,” she says. You’d want to see what she has to offer.

The post From Tea Towels to Oven Mitts: This Brand Will Upgrade Your Kitchen appeared first on MobiSpirit.

“I took a scarf weaving class and was completely hooked,” she recalled in an interview with The Project for Women. “Ever since I have been taking as many weaving classes as I can and reading books and trying out different techniques.”

What began as a simple way to pass the time would soon blossom into her life’s work. Now, with little over 60k followers on Instagram, Shimek exhibits her work worldwide and teaches her learned techniques through weaving workshops.

Over the years, Shimek has become recognized for her massive woven wall hangings. Exploring the fibers’ organic movement, Shimek’s weaving style allows the fibers to fall into an indeterminate pattern that reveals the beauty and vulnerability of her materials. Amongst her acquired techniques are tapestry and Navajo weaving, rigid heddle, and floor loom weaving.

“I wasn’t an artist before I started weaving and honestly felt pretty intimidated to jump in and meet all these people who have been working in these fields for years,” she admits. But she shouldn’t have been intimidated. “The weaving community especially has been amazing,” says Shimek. “All these wonderful people sharing their work and explaining techniques, it really resonates with me.”

The post Meghan Shimek’s Obsession With Weaving Turned Into Her Life’s Work appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Born in Japan, Mizushima majored in Japanese traditional painting before working as a designer and Illustrator in Tokyo. But after some moving around, she found she was much more drawn to craft than art. Now based in Vancouver, Canada, she describes herself as a slow crafter, with her work including needle felting, miniature collage making, and stop-motion animation videos.

As part of her work, Mizushima has been commissioned to make music videos for the band They Might Be Giants, and has made miniature collages for several book covers in Japan.

“It takes a long time to make a needle-felted piece,” she remarked in an interview with Frankie, “especially for me (I’m a slow crafter). It has also crippled me! (Seriously, I have been having a problem in my shoulder and arm for months!)”

“My work is a bit retro, twisted, fun, colorful, nerdy, and cute (but in questionable taste),” she adds. “Luckily I usually make what I want. And I hope my work can make people smile!”

Indeed, if her work doesn’t make you smile, we regret to say that nothing will.

The post Hiné Mizushima Takes Needle Felting to the Next Level appeared first on MobiSpirit.

“My work is heavily influenced by a particular museum that I discovered at the age of eleven while I was studying at a performing arts boarding school in Tring, UK,” she admitted in an interview with Enchanted Living Magazine. “The Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum is famous for holding one of the finest collections of stuffed mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects, and this amazing collection of animals is what triggered my obsession with taxidermy.”

And so, fueled by her childhood memories, she took to fabric, thread, and paint, creating an unbelievable realistic collection of faux taxidermy, that consists of insects and other small creatures. While taxidermy still greatly inspires her work, her creative process requires a different set of tools and thankfully, no animals are harmed in the process.

“One evening, I randomly decided to dust off my old sewing machine and rekindled my love for textiles,” she recalled. “I gradually began to incorporate fabrics and machine and hand embroidery into my wire creations at the very end of 2017.” Her progress on that front alone is remarkable.

The post Emily Yeadon Creates Faux Taxidermy Out of Fabric appeared first on MobiSpirit.

According to Marañon, her creative process relies on intuition and spontaneity, using geometric shapes and techniques that include repetition. The result is an abstract landscape where the hand of the artist is present, drawing attention to the texture and weight of the materials being used.

“I love exploring all sorts of possible outcomes by simply playing around with color, fabric, print, and texture,” Marañon shared with Brown Paper Bag. “I am inspired most when I’m working, and ideas come in a frenzied rush and I just have to try new ways to lay out shapes, or new ways to mix mediums,” she adds. According to her, experimentation and fun fuel her quilted projects.

“I began quilting late 2013 when working for a fabric manufacturer,” she recalled. “I’d done many digital quilt designs there and understood the basic steps and terminology, and I thought that was enough to start on a project on my own. I dove right into a king-sized quilt using that experience.”

The rest was history.

The post Textile Artist Plays Around With Color, Fabric, and Texture appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Based in Melbourne, her work includes illustrating books for children and collaborating with her creative friend, Isobel Knowles, under the name Soft Stories. But it’s her plush toys, or rather, soft sculptures, that really made a splash. All completely hand sewn, her pieces are made without using a pattern, so that each one is a stand-alone work.

As such, her work—though undeniably playful— isn’t meant to be played with, but rather, admired from a safe distance. “I like my work to engage a wide audience, so there are elements that appeal to young children and also an older generation,” says Rabbit. “My main objective when creating new work for exhibition is to incite feelings of comfort, joy and nostalgia – when I make a piece that encapsulates all of these elements, I am satisfied with the work!”

Her whimsical characters include a croissant-headed creature and anthropomorphized mushrooms. “I like to devise new characters all the time!” says Rabbit. “I get an idea in my head or sketch something out and am not satisfied until I work it up into a 3D character.”

Take a look at some of her work in the gallery below.

The post Cat Rabbit Makes Nostaltic Plush Toys For Adults appeared first on MobiSpirit.

An interior designer and model maker, Dance specializes in crafting models and props used in advertising campaigns, editorial commissions, window displays, and art installations. Her selected clients include brands like Christian Louboutin, Google, Mulberry, and Selfridges, making her seemingly ordinary objects a novelty that’s high on demand.

“I’m often inspired by very ‘normal’ everyday items, items that portray the luxury of choice and comfort in the western world,” she remarks. “I always aim for my work to be graphical, with a playful edge,” she adds. Her day to day includes sculpting, knitting or stitching.

According to Dance, knitting and embroidery are typically perceived as “feminine crafts”. However, she aims to take gender out of the equation when it comes to her work itself. “I always strive to produce a carefully considered design, with a strong concept, using quality materials,” she stressed.

The post These Objects’ Uniqueness Lies in Their Simplicity appeared first on MobiSpirit.

According to Kingswell, her love of color goes all the way back to her childhood, when she sorted her colored pencils into pleasing sequences. “Color! I love it when it creates drama and impact, when it dances before your eyes, when it stirs the soul and fires the imagination,” she writes on her website.

Her love of textile came later, having earned a degree in communications design and after a fruitful career as a graphic designer. “I get pleasure from creating things,” says Kingswell, “things that are so much more than the sum of their parts – finding new patterns by exploring the beauty of color, number, sequence, and proportion through the medium of fabric.”

Her aim with her work? To lift spirits and make people smile. “And also intrigue them a little!” A good enough cause as any.

The post Textile + Color = Alexandra Kingswell’s Original Artwork appeared first on MobiSpirit.