LUISA DE SANTI TEXTILE KNIT/CROCHET/EMBROIDERYARTISTDESIGNER AND TEACHER YARN BOMBING PROJECTS CREATOR ART COORDINATOR of COLLECTIVE WORKS
Luisa De Santi THE MAGIC IN A THREAD
A broad range of yarn techniques (usually considered as a crafting and female hobby) are my main expressive medium. My constant research focuses on experimenting on the expressive potential offered by these techniques, especially in their three-dimensional facets and applications. Knowing very well these techniques, so popular and familiar to many people, I feel free to ironically focus on the symbolic content of the single works, be it empathy, sharing, interconnection, affirmation of a personal point of view.
Me and my mask (2017) tecnique: crochet, embroidery, sewing materials: cotton yarns, polyfill, plastic, wire, wig on the opposite page: details and creative process
Creature 1 (Love doesn’t judge by sight ) 2017 This work is the first of a series, with which I try to investigate on the mystery of human empathy. The work includes wearables (garment, headpiece, footwear, fingerswear) and a soft object. The crochet pieces were animated by a human being, realizing a photo set, to create lenticular sequence. tecnique: crochet, embroidery, sewing materials: cotton yarns, polyfill, plastic, wire MODEL: Rouge Maudit MAKEUP: Greta Agazzi https://vimeo.com/225869134
My research is based on experimenting. It’s a story about emotions, feelings, colours, textures, research, experimentation and enthusiasm. Threads simply pave the way to playfulness and to a world of infinite creativity. It is a world of unlimited possibilities and unstoppable energy. As life.
Vegetable Creatures (2007 / 2010) cm 60 x 60 h30/ 80 x 45 h35 / 40 x 25 h20 tecnique: soft sculpture (3D crochet personal tecnique), embroidery, sewing materials: cotton yarns, polyfill
I have never stopped making squares as it’s a work in progress ongoing since 2008. I made hundreds so far. The squares are made from different materials (yarn, fabric, fibers, recycled stuff like ribbons, cords, lace, plastic bags, paper, tetrapack packaging). I used plastic elements, little toys, parts from plastic flowers, beads, buttons, shells, stones, little pieces of broken old bijoux, and different techniques (crochet, knit, embroidery, creative sewing and so on) but mostly crochet, knit and embroidery (techniques I practice mostly as teacher and designer). The squares speak about emotions, feelings or the wish of the day, or just follow the fun and the inspiration of the moment, like sketches for fixing ideas and developing them in a second time. This wasn’t (and still isn’t) just a daily work, or a funny exercise. The bunch of squares has to be considered as a map of a creative journey.
The Journal Project is a sort of diary, made by little squares (10 x 10 cm) I started in 2008. The main idea behind this radical craft project was to make one square every day in a year span, like a real life diary, wherever I was and whatever I done. It was funny, sometimes difficult but an exciting experience, an unavoidable public action completely new in my country (Italy) for the time (about 10 years ago). When I started the project I published a lot of squares, day by day for months, in a blog where you can see also some funny “backstage” pics: journal-project.blogspot.com
From 2008, ongoing
Journal Project (a private diary, a collection of ideas and a map at the same time)
Starting from a square of my Journal Project* I’ve developed this bidimensional body of work in which I use bright color yarns and a lot of elements from plastic flowers and plants, as sembled by meticolouse and dense needlepoint stitching. A slow and long work. I decided to use circular forms because the garden time is not linear but it follows the looping rhythms of nature. Gardens are metaphores. A garden is the place of dreams and hopes, where you can meditate and take care of yourself, where you learn to wait. A garden means a possibility to go back to a more natural state, or at least to try to do it. Colours mean feelings, plastic elements represent the distorted relationship we have with nature: we love to have around pieces of plastic that look like plants without needing our care.
Pictures: Little Gardens n.01, n.02, n.03, 2016/2017
Little Gardens (or garden therapy) 2016 - ongoing
Monkey cm201825 x 25 tecnique: soft sculpture (3D crochet personal tecnique), embroidery, sewing materials: cotton yarns, polyfill, cardboard
Monkey 2018 cm 20 x 20 tecnique: soft sculpture (3D crochet personal tecnique), embroidery, sewing materials: cotton yarns, polyfill, cardboard In the two nextpages: Monkeys 2018 - 2019 cm 20 x 20 / cm 30 x 30 tecnique: soft sculpture (3D crochet personal tecnique), embroidery, sewing, pencil and felt-tip pen drawing materials: cotton yarns, polyfill, cardboard
AESON Festival 2022 (arts in a natural enviroment) Parco Isonzo Fiumicello (Udine) IT in collaboration with Picknitartcafè APS
Yarn Bombing + performance (first experiment in the park of Villa Sartorio in Trieste - 2018) (second Bologna - 2020 as R03 in collaboration with Indiemotion)
Site specific installation and performance project + wood lights durational in collaboration with Indiemotion Tecnique: crochet, soft sculpture and string personal tecnique materials: yarns, polyfill, plastic
(second experiment during AESON Festival Udine and third experiment during InsOrti Festival in Indiemotion (Berlin-Trieste)
IMAGO CELLS during Sharpers Night in Trieste 2021 Site specific installation and performance project - Performance Design by Kdindie (Berlin-Trieste) tecnique: crochet, soft sculpture and string personal tecnique materials: yarns, polyfill, plastic
WITH A THREAD - FROM ART TO GEOMETRY FOR SCIENCE IN THE CITY FESTIVAL ESOF2020 Crochet collective work on hyperbolic space introducing non-Euclidean geometry m 3,5 x 6 in collaboration with Picknitartcafè APS 20 August /7 September 2020, Mercato Coperto (TRIESTE, Italy)
Guinness Huge Crochet blanket for Piazza Unità d’Italia, Trieste Italy (2015) International Charity Project and Installation “A Guinness Carpet”, a carpet of over 3.000 m² in Piazza ProjectTrieste).created and organized for Picknitartcafè APS (of which I am still chief creative officer).
Piazza Unità d’Italia, Trieste, Italy for charity (fundraising for AISM Associazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla
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From as far back as I can remember, there’s never been a time when I haven’t been involved with threads and creative needlework techniques of some sort. Right from my childhood, the fact that it seemed possible to construct practically anything starting from a thread felt absolutely magical to me - a fairy goddess spell, a touch of the supernatural turning into reality. In fact, the fairy tales I loved most were often about shirts woven without seams, fairy creatures creating enchanted dresses overnight, never-ending threads, straw being spun into gold. Everything actually does start from a thread and what always fascinates me, time and again, is the potential a thread has of opening up a world of unlimi ted possibilities. It is a world of unlimited possibilities where reality and illu sion can intertwine. Yarns are like open roads, a medium that can be used to create a world where the bounduaries between reality and desire and hope and illusion do not exist.Threads simply pave the way to playfulness and infi nite creativity. I work on my creations without any sketch. I find that working without sketches and plans is like leaving without a destination: you just enjoy your journey. These process gives me a feeling of freedom and emo tion, so is the best way for me. My idea of perfect happiness is the equilibrium between dreams and reality, the harmony of feeling con nected with everything that surrounds me, knowing that I am a small
Luisa De Santi Trieste (North East Italy)
Knitting&Stitching
I worked in Italy for a long time in the field of puppet theatre in the Historical Podrecca Puppet Company. Since 2000 I work full time as a fi ber artist, teaching my techniques and as an author of original patterns for the italian publishing industry and for companies producing yarns.
Textile
Knitting&Stitching2019 Show,
Exhibitions
Artistic2020
happiness
part of an larger organism that comprehends everything and everyone.
2013 Yarn Creatures,
Arsizio MagicalITCrochet Spells,
Textile
2017
I created and organized public installations sand yarn bombing projects for charities in Italy (Milano, Gorizia, Modena and Trieste). (solo) Week , Knitted Contemporary Jewel - Four Iconic Jewels by Luisa De Santi, International Casa delle Donne Roma IT Paths for FIDAPA BPW Trieste Storica, Trieste IT Alexandra Palace London UK spring edition Gallery “Magical Crochet Spells” Bottega Artigiana for Miniartextile in Busto Arsizio, Busto Studio Gasperini, Trieste IT Show, Olimpia Palace London UK autumn edition Gallery “Magical Crochet Spells” Joie de vivre, installation and solo exhibition, Creattiva, Bergamo, Italy “The of a star” Mostra del Ricamo e del tessuto artigianale Valtopina, Perugia IT Palazzo Bonin Longare, Vicenza, IT
2014
Roma2021 Jewelry
I displayed my collections of textile jewels and accessories at Pit ti Filati during the pret-a-porter Moda Donna in Milan. I work for the italian fashion and home decor industry and for private customers. My creations and patterns were displayed at Pitti Filati in Florence. Since 2009 my installations and laboratories are part of the the most famous art&crafts events in Italy (Vicenza, Roma, Milano, Firen ze, Torino, Bergamo, Parma, Genova) and abroad (Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney in Australia, Nantes in France and London in UK).
Little Gardens
Exhibitions (collective) BID2021 Biennale Internazionale Donna (a contemporary art exhibition of women artists) MAG26 (Historical Treadin Harbour in Trieste), Trieste IT Art2020Paper International 2020 Galerie L’Atelier, Hunibach, Switzerland Paratissima2019
2017 Tree Yarn Bombing, Festival Filosofia, Villa Giacobazzi Sassuolo IT Magia, performance in duo con Rouge, per Liberarti, Palazzo Costanzi, Trieste IT 2015 Installation “Vela della solidarietà” for the Barcolana Regatta, Trieste, Italy
Installations
BID Biennale Internazionale Donna (a contemporary art exhibition of women artists) MAG26 (Historical Treadin Harbour in Trieste), Trieste IT and performances
Art Fair , NICE section “L’altro capo del filo”, Torino IT
2020
2022 AESON Festival (arts in a natural enviroment) Parco Isonzo Fiumicello (Udine) IT Art YelloWoman textile collective installation for charity (in favour of Italian Endometriosis Society), Fittke Gallery of the Municipality and Mercato Coperto Trieste (historical covered market) Imago2021 Cells Installation for Progetto Area Giovani Municipality of Trieste in 53rd Barcolana Regatta - Trieste Imago Cells - performing textiles, Sharpers Night -Trieste IT textile installation site specific and performance in collaboration with Indiemotion (Berlin- Italy): AESON Festival (arts in a natural enviroment) Secret event Parco Isonzo Fiumicello (Udine) IT InsOrti Performative arts Festival, Bologna IT With a Thread - from Art to Geometry for Science in the city Festival pro ESOF 2020 Trieste IT
Crochetdoll di Luisa De Santi Via Settefontane 55 34139 TRIESTE IT Instagram luisa.desanti@crochetdoll.it@luisa_desantiWhatsApp:3249018475 International Project and Installation “A Guinness Carpet” for charity (fundraising for AISM Associazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla Trieste). Crochet Day: Flash Mob and performance in Piazza della Scala - installation in Brera, Milano, Italy 2014 Yarn Bombing: “A scarf for Saba, Svevo and Joyce”, Trieste, Italy 2013 “Yarn Bombing at full speed”, on Harley Davidson and Filandi Uragano Supercar, Modena, IT “Super Market: installation and public performance”, Historical Market, Gorizia, Italy “Yarn Bombing at the Parck”,Villa Coronini Cromberg Public Parck, Gorizia IT 2022PUBLICATIONSKnitEncyclopedia (Giungi - Demetra) 2017 Magical Crochet Spells (engl) Magie di Filo all’uncinetto (it) (self 2015published)Crochet Encyclopedia (Centauria Creativa Publishing) 2014/15 Crochet Encyclopedia(RCS and Fabbri Publishing) 2014 Patchwork all’uncinetto (self published) 2013 Bambole (Nuova S1) 2012 Crochet Encyclopedia (RCS Publishing) 2009/2011 Gioie di Filo, La mia primabambola, Stelle&Caramelle, Fantasie all’uncinetto, Pazze per il crochet, Al calduccio con Fantasia (self published)
