Shibori & Ice Dye

The Embroidered Touch textiles with sensory embroidery are sometimes created together with artists with disabilities, in an inclusive, participatory and empowering partnership with the local community. Most recently we collaborated with citizen artists from Envision Unlimited, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide people with disabilities or other special needs with quality services that promote choice, independence  and inclusion. 

Before the sensory embroidery design was embroidered into place for the Embroidered Touch Pillows and Wall Hangings, we created their Shibori and ice-dyed organic cotton fabrics.

Tuscany

During Anke’s 2024 La Balda artist residency in Montegiovi, Italy she discovered the beauty of Tuscany,  inspiring the Embroidered Touch wall hangings. The touch-sensitive design recalls the rolling hills of Tuscany, La Pieve di Santa Maria a Lamula Church, built in 800 CE as a sacred site, the Daniel Spoerri Garden in Florence, and everyone at the residency in Montegiovi. 

The sensory embroidery is specially designed in an organic and fluid grid pattern to encourage your hands to roam freely while exploring the surface. Our technical embroidery is executed by the most cutting-edge professionals at the vanguard of the field of e-textiles. This fabric was created in a mill close to Florence with a special focus on traditional refined craftsmanship.

Visualization

We created the touch-based animation’s visuals originally using various textile treatments on recycled fabrics from local landfills, then transformed them into digital images of human organs, from eyes, heart and lungs, to ears and blood vessels. As a result, the tactile visual experience brings the viewer on a colorful journey through the body, starting with the heart. This visualization is inspired by Anke’s artist residency at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago.