Artist Spotlight: Kseniia Guseva of Faimyxstitch
You learned several crafts as a child, including cross-stitch, but stepped away from them for many years. What brought you back to embroidery as an adult, and when did you begin to see yourself as an embroidery artist?
I’ve always lived in two worlds: the pragmatic and the creative. As a child, it was school in the morning and ballroom dancing or music school in the evening. Then it was university in the morning and music college in the afternoon. So I always had a way to channel my creative energy. But then I started working full-time at a bank, and all my energy went into that. After a few years without a creative outlet, I realized I was under constant stress. That’s when embroidery really helped me find my balance again. But I didn’t want to go back to banking anymore; I realized that I’d tried to be pragmatic, and it hadn’t worked. It was time to try living a full-time creative life. That was in 2015.
Architecture has become such a recognizable part of your work. You’ve shared that a trip through Sweden and Finland inspired your first larger architectural embroidery. What was it about translating a place into thread that connected with you?
I've always been fascinated by architecture; I even went to an architecture university. That's why, when I walk around the city, I'm constantly looking at buildings. People-watching is all the rage these days, but I've always been drawn to buildings. And since it's something I know well, architecture became the first subject from real life that I wanted to make in thread. It was around that time when I switched from cross-stitching to hand embroidery. And the fact itself that I can turn real life objects into thread was massive for me. I grew up thinking I can’t draw. And turned out I can (in a way).
You have now created more than 150 city patterns from around the world. How do you choose which places to embroider, and what is your process for turning the character of a city into a design that can be stitched?
At first, they were places I’d been to. I traveled to Europe to perform with a choir, and we’d spend 3–5 hours walking around each major city (Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, etc.). That’s why my embroidery mostly consists of collages of the places I saw, not just one view. I remembered specific spots and then reconstructed them in my mind by looking at my photos. I already had a digital camera back then (not a film one), but my mom decided to print out all the photos anyway. There were about a thousand of them from a two-week trip. A huge stack, like a dictionary.First, I draw all the places I can remember. Then I rearrange them, moving them from one spot to another to create a composition. If I drew on paper, I simply cut them out. If it’s digital, I draw each building on a separate layer. Pretty quickly, I gained an audience that started requesting specific cities. People began sharing their favorite spots, and I also learned about cities by reading blogs, watching videos about architecture, and walking through the streets on Google Maps. So all of that really helps to understand the city.
Beyond architecture, your work includes florals, interiors, animals, landscapes, abstracts, and other subjects. How would you describe your artistic voice today, and how has it evolved since your earliest pieces?
In the early years, I felt like I couldn’t let myself to embroider anything other than architectural motifs. Like that’s what I do and what people expect. But life is multifaceted, and my interests have broadened; after moving to Germany, there was so much architecture all around me that I wanted to take a break from it. Ans the city is so green, that I’m now the person who has thousand of flower pictures. So I’d say the change is scenery played a big role in that. Now I would describe my artistic voice as “exploratory.” I immerse myself in various traditional embroidery techniques and try to reinterpret them in a more contemporary way. Or just do with them something you’re not supposed to do.
Over the last few years, you’ve explored techniques including stumpwork, punch needle, tambour, thread painting, and many others. What motivates you to keep learning new embroidery techniques, and how does that experimentation influence your own work?
I am someone who lives in an environment where a foreign language is spoken all around me. German is my third language. And life became much easier once I started speaking it. For me, embroidery techniques are like words. By understanding how to use these words, I can communicate with the world of embroidery better. And I feel myself more confident with any materials that get in my hands. Sometimes it gets in the way of the personal work, because you can’t stop your brain from generating more and more ideas. So you have to be carefull, haha.
Your patterns range from beginner to advanced and include detailed stitch guides, thread palettes, tutorials, and other resources. When you create a pattern for someone else to stitch, how do you balance your own artistic vision with making the design understandable and enjoyable for another embroiderer?
I have two approaches: my best patterns turn out when I know from the start that this will be a pattern for everyone. In that case, I document in detail everything I did, what tools I used, and how I did it. I break the process down into small steps that anyone can follow. I’m also a visual learner so I’m making lots of diagrams and show steps on videos so people like me wouldn’t have to recreate a stitch from a written poem. The other process goes when I’m embroidering something experimental, like the “Windows” embroidery. It has more artistic vision, I give myself the freedom not to write anything down and just go with the flow.
Teaching has become another part of your practice through online courses, tutorials, and your Patreon community. What made you want to begin teaching embroidery, and what have you learned from sharing your knowledge with people around the world?
I never planned on teaching; I thought I didn’t have enough patience. But it turned out that you don’t actually need patience to teach or learn embroidery. It all started when I was getting a lot of questions about the basics of embroidery, and I gradually began recording videos with answers so I’d have something to send to the next person who asked. On one side, this made me think about how differently people perceive the same information. And on the other side, how much we have in common in terms of our backgrounds even if we live on different tectonic plates. It feels like we grew up in the same backyard. I guess it’s the influence of internet and social media. The Patreon came about thanks to people who wanted to dive deeper in different embroidery techniques with me. After some time, the basics can get a bit boring, and you want to see how else you can wrap the thread.
Faimyxstitch has grown beyond your personal artwork into a business offering patterns, courses, finished embroideries, and even display frames that you design and 3D print yourself. How has building the business changed the way you think about your work as an artist?
For me, everything happened in reverse. Because of people’s interest in my embroidered cityscapes, I opened a shop very quickly and moved on to expanding my collection. Only now do I deliberately set aside time to work on projects as an artist, without filming the tutorials along the way. So you can say, it slowed down the development of my personal artwork, but also it gave me more time to grow as a person and create more meaningful work.
Your work has led to collaborations with companies and publications including DMC, Domestika, Anchor Crafts, and Love Embroidery. What have these collaborations taught you, and is there one that has been particularly meaningful or influential in your career?
It was so interesting to be part of these collaborations! I finally could get a glimpse of the other side of the craft industry. It’s like letting a musical theater kid perform on Broadway, feels insane! I’d say the most meaningful one was the collection of embroidery kits with DMC. Even as a child, I knew I really liked their threads, but they were hard to find and expensive. So for me, this was about making the impossible possible; expanding my own mindset about what I’m capable of.
Your embroidery has also appeared in books and publications around the world. What has it been like seeing something that began as a personal creative practice reach audiences internationally?
I originally started an embroidery account in English so I could connect with as many people as possible. Plus, at the time, there were a lot of interesting embroiderers posting in English, and I wanted to become part of that community. Now I realize that was the right decision. How else could I have walked into a bookstore in Berlin and happened to spot my embroidery on the cover of a book? That felt surreal, because it was the first time my embroidery had left the internet. By that time, my art lived in homes around the world, but you don’t realize it until you see it with your own eyes. This, by the way, goes back to the idea that we’re often capable of much more than we can imagine.
You mention striving for zero waste and incorporating leftovers and vintage materials into your practice. How does sustainability influence the decisions you make about your materials and the way you create?
I save all the leftover threads from my projects. And every few years, I create a new project out of them. It turns out to be a sort of snapshot of a cultural layer. I think that any constraints on a project’s parameters are wonderful. When you can make anything out of anything, you end up making nothing. That’s why the second principle of my practice is to use what I already have. I also like to make my samplers in such a way that they can either be hung on the wall or kept for future reference.
Looking ahead, how do you see your own artistic practice and Faimyxstitch evolving? Are there new techniques, subjects, collaborations, exhibitions, or projects you would especially like to explore?
Right now, I’m fascinated by the interplay between light and shadow. As part of my personal work, I’ve started creating a new collection that brings together everything I love. It will feature a bit of architecture in the background (the elements that cast shadows), plenty of light, and, of course, embroidery. I’d like to create a small collection of these embroideries and see where it takes me.As for the rest of my practice, one of the things I never get tired of on Patreon is that I switch up my techniques every two months. Just recently, I was doing sashiko embroidery, turning old jeans into coasters. And now we’re going to be working on projects with beads. I think I’ve found a balance between my pragmatic and creative sides. Well, we’ll see if that’s really the case!
Where can people follow your work, learn from you, and find your patterns, courses, and available embroideries?
The best way is to join my mailing list at https://shop.faimyxstitch.com/pages/subscribe. I’m sending a free pattern that will teach you some awesome beginner-friendly stitches and textures. And it’s where I announce new embroidery releases and updates of my practice.If you’re into social media, find me on instagram @faimyxstitch. And if you’d like to explore different embroidery techniques with me, I invite you to join my Patreon community.
