Alphabet imaginaire, 2021

8.04. – 11.04.2021
At fanfarefanfare.nl, Da Costakade 154, 1053 XC Amsterdam

During TaDA residency 2020, (Textile and Design Alliance is a cultural promotion programme) I was teaching Design to the Basic Year students of Gerrit Rietveld Academie online. At this course I introduced them to the techniques of embroidery, with the goal to develop a typeface and sampler together. Each student was invited to design a letter in order to create a contemporary embroidery alphabet. It got stitched on a 5,2 m long cotton fabric with an embroidery machine. The embroidery machine functioned as both tool and collaborator—imposing limits, demanding precision, yet enabling scale and durability. The inspiration came from embroidery samplers, which were formerly used to practise different types of sewing and embroidery. Since 2020, I have been increasingly interested in text as a raw material. As a result, I de- veloped a strong interest in typography. The number of students was the perfect opportunity to develop an alphabet and font and to teach embroidery. The focus was not on the legibility of the font, but rather on the playful and imaginative interpretation of a letter. It got stitched on a 5,2 m long cotton fabric with an embroidery machine with 168 needles in Switzerland. The resulting font is published as an open-source font.

Download font here

Thanks to: Rainer Nothelfer, Alexander Bortlik

Aa: Karolina Wijting, Bb: Logan Muamba Ndanou, Cc: Migle Lukoseviciute, Dd: Sofie de Leeuw van Weenen, Ee: Anna Klas, Oo: Marta Gawron, Gg: Camille Doussy, Yy& Ii: Oline Bronée, Jj: Adriane Bastiaens, Kk: Yorick Bakker, Ll: Abel Aben, Mm: Maartje Stapel, Pp: Mae Smith, Qq: Miles Schleifer, Rr: Esther Rzewnicki, Ss: Pieke Pleijers, Tt : Jiyeon Lee “izzy”, Uu:Ines Guerra Quinzereis, Vv: Rémy Guerra, Ww: Julia de Martino, Xx: Jesse Andriesse, Zz &Ff: Cristal Sraj

Image - 5,2 m long embroidered cotton fabric — 5,2 m long embroidered cotton fabric

Image - Exhibition view, TaDA Together 2025, Arbon, CH. © Elisa Florian — Exhibition view, TaDA Together 2025, Arbon, CH. © Elisa Florian

Image - Exhibition view, TaDA Together 2025, Arbon, Werk 2 CH. — Exhibition view, TaDA Together 2025, Arbon, Werk 2 CH.

Image - Uu:Ines Guerra Quinzereis, Vv: Rémy Guerra, Ww: Julia de Martino, Xx: Jesse Andriesse, Yy: Oline Bronée, Zz: Cristal Sraj — Uu:Ines Guerra Quinzereis, Vv: Rémy Guerra, Ww: Julia de Martino, Xx: Jesse Andriesse, Yy: Oline Bronée, Zz: Cristal Sraj

Image - Embroidery as a curtain @fanfare Amsterdam, NL — Embroidery as a curtain @fanfare Amsterdam, NL

Aa: Rende Arends, Bb: Bein Van Vilsteren, Cc: Dawid Dobosz, Dd & Xx: Giordano Léa, Ee: Mingyeong Kim,
Ff: Emmanuelle Martinez, Gg: Georgia Mathiason,
Hh: Alexandra Murtagh, Ii: Marlene Schienle, Jj: Alexia Garrido, Kk: Luna Van der Horst, Ll: Loly Blaise,
Mm: Margaux Cor, Nn: Nanna Ingemann Egelund,
Oo: Mats Edel, Pp: Olav Kuzinski, Qq: Chenpan Qi,
Rr: Amber Schaafsma, Ss: Stella Dikmans, Tt: Timo Van Sark, Uu & Yy: Artemy Sei, Vv & Zz: Nina Veloo, Ww: William Nielsen

Image - Uu & Yy: Artemy Sei, Vv: Nina Veloo, Ww: William Nielsen, Xx: Giordano Léa, Ss: Stella Dikmans, Tt: Timo Van Sark — Uu & Yy: Artemy Sei, Vv: Nina Veloo, Ww: William Nielsen, Xx: Giordano Léa, Ss: Stella Dikmans, Tt: Timo Van Sark

Image - 5,2 m long Embroidery machine — 5,2 m long Embroidery machine

Image - Ww: William Nielsen — Ww: William Nielsen

Alphabet imaginaire, 2021

Image - Bb: Bein Van Vilsteren — Bb: Bein Van Vilsteren

Image - Stickmustertuch (engl. sampler), early 19 th century, alphabets — Stickmustertuch (engl. sampler), early 19 th century, alphabets

Making off