For more than ten years, Ulla-Stina Wikander has been collecting cross-stitch embroideries, and today she boasts an impressive collection of over 100 distinct designs. Most of these embroideries were crafted by women and are often dismissed as kitsch and deemed nearly worthless. Yet some are genuinely beautiful, and Wikander aims to give them a renewed purpose.
In 2012, Wikander began covering ordinary household items from the 1970s—such as a sewing machine, vacuum cleaner, and electric mixer—with her embroideries. She finds it fascinating to observe how these objects change when placed in a new context: the obsolete, the unwanted, the old and forgotten. By cutting the embroideries into pieces and dressing the objects, she grants them a second life, and she believes the results are exceptionally beautiful.
The artist scours flea markets and vintage shops to find cross-stitch embroideries and the items she wishes to transform. Smaller objects like an iron or a telephone take her a day or two to complete, while larger installations require weeks of work.
Visit her site ullastinawikander.com
