‘Soundweaving’, Transforming Traditional Hungarian and Transylvanian Cross Stitch Patterns Into Music

Traditional Hungarian and Transylvanian cross stitch embroidery patterns are transformed into music in the fascinating art project Soundweaving by Hungarian design student Zsanett Szirmay. To accomplish the transformation, Szirmay first transposed the embroideries into punch card patterns on fabric strips. Those strips were then fed into a punch card music player, which transformed the patterns into music. A Hungarian composer, Bálint Tárkány-Kovács, helped Szirmay audio map the patterns and arrange them into coherent melodies. The project debuted in September 2014 at Vienna Design Week.

photos by Sándor Fövényi

via Colossal