Embroidery Artist Covers Discarded Household Items From the 1970s With Colorful Cross Stitching

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Swedish embroidery artist Ulla-Stina Wikander has created a wonderful series of found household items from the 1970s covered in colorful cross-stitched designs. According to her website, Wikander got the idea to “dress up” these items in 2012 and has been doing so since.

In 2012 I started to cover ordinary household things from the 70s, like a sewing machine, vacuum cleaner, electric mixer etc. I find it interesting to see how these objects transforms in a new context; the obsolete, the things we do not want any longer, the old and forgotten things. I give them a second life and although I cut the embroidery into pieces, I still think they look very beautiful, when the objects has been ”dressed up”.

A post shared by Ulla-Stina (@uskonst) on

A post shared by Ulla-Stina (@uskonst) on

In 2013, Wikander co-founded Manus, a design company that makes beautiful, minimalist custom purses and handbags.

Well, we are two women who have worn out one and another bag over the years. We live and work in Gothenburg. Both have artistic work. Anna is a writer and prostitute, Ulla-Stina is an artist and designer. We often carry computer, tablet, notebooks, folders, paper and pens. We also have personalities that make us lose some other more or less unnecessary gadgets…. The purse’s clean exterior and practical inside are what we value in our daily lives. We both like variety and therefore constantly change the straps on our bags .

Manus Purses

via Cross Connect, Colossal

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.