Tatian Stephan has developed a unique creative vocabulary that marries her training as an architects with activism and high-craft, and an exploration in yarn and textiles, to drive concepts that engage, inspire and even provoke.
In 2020, wanting to give a physical form to the outrage that wrecked the Lebanese in the aftermath of the port blast, Tatiana and her sister Celine developed ‘Beirut Narratives’, a growing urban installation composed of over-sized words and sentences from collected testimonials that visualise the public - emotions, reflections and descriptions - in the form of a silent protest.
The ensuing lockdown saw Tatiana creating tapestries through self-learning, and an unyielding trial and error process that still leads to new discoveries. Céline used the months of solitude to earn a degree in sustainability and circular economy. Now, the sisters are developing upcycled design pieces and tapestries inspired by a single, alarming fact: Almost 92 million tons of textile waste is created each year. Suddenly, the calm of working with wool has been replaced by an urgency to counter climate change – shared with the world through sustainably developed textile designs.
ABOUT THE WORK
Experimental Topographies: Kimono
KIMONO, 2021
Upcycled burlap
95x45cm