Men embroider: Vincent Valiente

Meri (of Agulhas da Meri) tipped us off to the amazing work of German embroiderer Vincent Valiente, displayed on his blog worksofhands. Vincent’s blog profile explains,

1. Why embroidery?

Because I feel I have to do it. It does not have to make sense.  I feel embroidery is my way of expressing myself. I feel painting and photography are not enough medium for me. I like to learn new techniques and materials. I am just discovering exciting textures in textile making techniques to explore…

4. When did you start to embroider?

I started to get serious about embroidery with cross stitch designs from Teresa Wentzler. In 2005, I went to Paris to visit the needlework fair, L´aguille en fête. It was at this fair that I first saw all the techniques that I am learning. The needlework at display and demonstrated during the fair imprinted in my head, and created a desire for me to create them myself.

5. How did you learn?

I am mostly self-taught, reading instructions from books and from the internet. But I also took instructions from a few teachers.

This portrait of Svea combines silk-thread sketching with Asian laidwork. Vincent expresses some dissatisfaction with his execution of Svea’s hair, caused by his color-blindness. I think he’s being a bit hypercritical of his work!

Learn more about Vincent and see more of his stitching on his blog. And thank you, Meri, for alerting us to this remarkable talent!