Portuguese Textile Artist Creates Gorgeous Handwoven World Map Tapestry Using Techniques of Her Ancestors

To celebrate the partnership between Heathrow Airport and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Portuguese textiles artist Vanessa Barragão created an absolutely gorgeous handwoven world map tapestry. Barragão employed the techniques of her ancestors along with the materials of jute, cotton and wool. To increase environmental awareness, Barragão also inserted into the tapestry map areas where threatened species reside. This amazing project took Barragão over three weeks in total to complete.

The Botanical Tapestry is an artwork developed to and Kew Gardens. Installed in Terminal 2’s departures forecourt of Heathrow Airport, this tapestry is 100% handmade, using ancestral techniques, like latch hook, crochet and felt needle. It took more than 520 hours to weave, using 8kg of jute and cotton and 42kg of recycled wool.

via My Modern Met

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.