CREATORS – Karolin Reichardt

Name: Karolin Reichardt

Which came first in your life, the science or the art?

Art was definitely my first love, but I remember loving to draw out parts of plants and cells in biology lessons and the molecule models in the chemistry lab in school. These visualisations and objects made something that seemed so strange and abstract to me, like the DNA ladder, familiar and tactile.

Which sciences relate to your art practice?

I am interested in natural habitations and how we use these structures in bionic architecture for instance. There are some fantastic builders in the animal world such as birds, hornets, or termites. Processes of growth and decay shown in video time-lapses, or drawn out as phase charts, have a big influence on me. To find inspiration I have looked into microbiology and crystallography.

What do you use to create your artwork?

At the moment I am working with embroidery and other textile techniques. I am mixing traditional techniques with more intuitive methods. I like to play with patterns and stitching techniques. The haptic quality of the fabric and the sheer endless ways of combining and layering thread, colours and beads offer me the perfect experimenting set-up on a very small scale. I like to challenge myself with the level of detail in each piece.

Artwork/Exhibition you are most proud of:

I am most proud of the series “Microorganisms,” because, with each piece, I learn more and more about embroidery and can hone my skills – that is what really drives me forward as a maker. It is great how others respond to the pieces wether it is online through my blog or website or when they see it in an exhibition or at my house. It will also be included in a gallery section of a new edition of the “Encyclopedia of Embroidery Techniques” by Quarto.

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