A stitch in time saves nio
December 19, 2016 9:04 AM   Subscribe

"Household Objects and Appliances Cross-Stitched. Swedish designer Ulla Stina Wikander uses household appliances and cooking tools as the base to her cross-stitched sculptures, bestowing outdated objects with a new life. Most of the items come from the 70s, yet the patterns she covers their bodies in are much older. The cross-stitch designs come from the 59-year-old artist’s vast collection, allowing Wikander to give a new context to each blowdryer, rolling pin, and typewriter she covers."
posted by Celsius1414 (15 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
I would absolutely wear those platform heels.
posted by kimberussell at 9:26 AM on December 19, 2016 [2 favorites]


A little cross-stitched cover for each typewriter key! Beautiful and familiar and such painstaking work.
posted by agatha_magatha at 10:09 AM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


A typewriter cozy is the best thing!
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:35 AM on December 19, 2016


Very lovely and exact work! Although I feel the artist would want me to point out that it's petit-point, not cross stitch - although the two are easily confused.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 10:35 AM on December 19, 2016 [3 favorites]


The phone is a Dialog, a classic design from the early sixties, from that era when the phone company owned the phones and was willing to invest time and money in the design.

(the model was followed by Diavox in the late seventies, which can be seen in e.g. Kung Fury)
posted by effbot at 10:53 AM on December 19, 2016


(it's a slide projector.)
posted by rlk at 11:16 AM on December 19, 2016


These are lovely! Is she making these from salvaged pieces cut up, or embroidering her own?
posted by Fuchsoid at 11:51 AM on December 19, 2016


Very lovely and exact work! Although I feel the artist would want me to point out that it's petit-point, not cross stitch - although the two are easily confused.

Actually, it looks like full-on needlepoint to me since you can see the individual stitches easily from a distance whereas they're smaller and finer in petit-point.

But agreed that it's definitely not cross stitch!
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:19 PM on December 19, 2016


FelliniBlank, my first impression is needlepoint as well, but the closeup of the telephone definitely shows xxx stitches - i.e. cross stitch, not ///. Maybe there's a mixture?

(I wonder what fabric the artist uses. )
posted by of strange foe at 12:27 PM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


As an electrical engineer, for me some of these art pieces make a delicious blend of the coziness of needlepoint and the danger of electrical fires. Imagine what would happen if you plugged in the iron or the blowdryer! A good example of how art speaks differently to different people.
posted by Triplanetary at 12:30 PM on December 19, 2016


I don't think it's cross-stitch, either. It's some other form of needlepoint. Whatever it is, it's gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing. I would totally wear/use any of these, or display them in my home (but not use them - hello, electrical fire!)
posted by jhope71 at 12:38 PM on December 19, 2016


Excellent use of the flat surface at the base of the clothes iron to feature a beautiful portrait.
posted by cynical pinnacle at 4:45 AM on December 20, 2016


Regardless of the stitch type, these are definitely all wonderful, and I'd love to have a house full of them . . . if only I didn't have cats and dogs. They eventually dismantled the wonderful antique petit-point chair I got from my Nana. This is why we can't have nice things.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:49 AM on December 20, 2016


I love this!!!! So much. So, so much.
posted by FirstMateKate at 6:34 AM on December 20, 2016


Just lovely. The tape player is my fave.

Cross-stitch as zeitgeist is accessibly a thing.
posted by freya_lamb at 10:57 AM on December 20, 2016


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