Ariadne is an artist and surface pattern designer. Her unique style is inspired by Greek folk motifs and shapes of the 18th/19th century. She is fascinated by their symbolic meanings and what they represented to the women who wore or embroidered them. Her goal is to bring them out of the archives and into our everyday lives.
🪡 Folk Facts #2: Threads of Patience🪡
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Hi there, In the first email of the series we talked about imperfection and how comfortable Greek women were with the idea of "good enough" when they had to. Today, we will look at how meticulous they were when creating their embroideries and most impressively how patient! What is happening here?Here you are looking at a pillow cover from the Eptanese, a group of islands located at the most western part of Greece which includes islands like Zakynthos and Leukada where most examples of this type of embroidery can be found. At first glance it is very hard to understand how much work has gone into its creation. So let’s zoom in to see what is happening here. If you are not familiar with embroidery, in most cases when creating a piece of embroidery the design one wants to embroider is created and filled in with thread, while the background is left blank. In this type of embroidery the background is also embroidered in a very detailed and time consuming way. Below you can see two close ups from these pieces. The one on the left is incomplete and the one on the right is what it looks like when finished. Folk FactIn those pieces of embroidery after the main design is completed, the woman works very hard to also decorate the background. She starts by removing some threads from the canvas to prepare it. If you look closely in the left picture above you will notice that they have removed 2 threads and left 3, on both directions of the canvas. That created a loose weave which was then covered using white silk thread. The technique is called fil tire embroidery (see image on the right). This process must have taken them hours upon hours to complete, but the result is mesmerising and a bit mind blowing! A little extraExamples of this technique can also be found in the island of Anaphi in the Aegean sea, however there all the elements of the design are created in the fil tire technique, not just the background. Have a look at an example here. Some thoughtsIn our fast paced world such an investment of time may seem a bit excessive, but to them it was an investment that paid dividends since this technique strengthened the canvas and ensured the item’s longevity. When I come across such artifacts I feel it opens a window in a very different time, a time when self-sufficiency looked very different from our understanding of it. Please let me know what thoughts this piece is triggering for you. I am very curious to know. P.S. We've had more friends joining us for the Folk Facts series, please note that my newsletters are sent every two weeks. If you want to read the previous newsletters click here for a limited time only. See you in two weeks for more inspiring folk stories! Until next time! If you like my work and want to support it, you can Buy Me a Coffee. Your contributions support my new ventures! Thank you! Let's stay connected! ​ |
​Ariadne Kritonos
Ariadne is an artist and surface pattern designer. Her unique style is inspired by Greek folk motifs and shapes of the 18th/19th century. She is fascinated by their symbolic meanings and what they represented to the women who wore or embroidered them. Her goal is to bring them out of the archives and into our everyday lives.