katrin vates’s earthy embroidery

By the frankie team

28 July 2021

These gentle landscapes are stitched with mind-blowing precision.

At first glance, Katrin Vates’s embroideries could be mistaken for real clumps of moss and soil, or even watercolour paintings. Katrin creates rich, intricate textures using a multitude of small and careful stitches, and what makes it all the more impressive is that she's self-taught. Having grown up in the Soviet Union where there were no embroidery books within reach, she made do with learning simple cross-stitch instead. It was only later in life, when she became a mum and moved to the US, that she began honing her embroidery skills and drawing inspiration from the greenery around her. You can read a loosely-translated interview with Katrin here, and be sure to check out her lovely Insta.

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