Stefania Atanasiu

Stefania Atanasiu, embroidery artist born in 1975 in Bucharest (Romania), has been living in Luxembourg for 5 years. A graduate in legal sciences, she started embroidering 6 years ago, inspired by traditional Romanian blouses. She works as a self-taught artist, as a member of the "Semne Cusute" (Sewn Signs) Association, with which she has taken part in international exhibitions.

The work she has created is a festive blouse, with rich embroidery on the shoulder, an element recently listed as intangible heritage by UNESCO. She has followed the traditional cut of Romanian blouses as recorded in documents and old items kept in museums.

The fabric used is linen. The embroidery is done exclusively by hand, using extra-fine merino thread, complemented by colour accents in silk and metallic thread in two shades of gold and gold sequins.  The embroidered motifs are geometric, stylised and repetitive, and the one that repeats the most and stands out in the shoulder and sleeve borders is known in popular Romanian culture as the 'shepherd's hook'. It is made up of two opposing spirals, but linked to better express the connection between going and coming back, beginning and end, lost and found... a kind of infinite balance. These are opposing principles that cannot exist separately; they attract and repel each other at the same time.