Does embroidery bring back happy memories?
Thanks to embroidery I am connected to DNA that has been passed down to me by generations of women. I grew up surrounded by thread, yarns, ribbons in my mother’s haberdashery, and I will never forget those sunny summer afternoons, embroidering and chatting with friends, aunts, sisters…
What inspires your work?
Besides my memories, I love to watch people in the street and in the Rastro Market in Madrid, with its mix of colours. I also like to listen to different noises in the street, although when I embroider I need to be by myself and immersed in silence; silence reminds me of the village I grew up in.
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What materials and techniques do you use?
Traditional embroidery with cotton and silk threads. I like to mix stitches and create special colour combinations. I use linen and canvas, but also any old fabric I can get hold of. For me, the most precious thing would be to find a long forgotten box full of threads and a bunch of old canvas bags!
You also embroider portraits of people. Who are they?
I do know some of them, however I also work on commission. All I need is high resolution pictures of them. The portraits are life-size; it takes me a month and a half to make one. After spending so much time with their face I wonder who this person is, where they live, what their house is like...