Olga Prinku

Embroiderer

Quadrille©India Hobson

Nature as my thread

Olga makes flowers-on-tulle embroidery
Initially a hobby, it became her career in 2016
She finds embroidering a meditative experience

Olga Prinku developed her craft of flowers-on-tulle embroidery emulating various traditional embroidery techniques using botanical ingredients. Through experimentation, the self-taught former graphic designer has mastered various ways for conditioning natural materials and for attaching them to tulle fabric. Olga likes to say she embroiders using “nature as her thread”. Attentive to nature’s patterns, she enjoys observing what grows together and how there is beauty in all stages of the life cycle. Because dried flowers are so fragile, flower embroidery is not a craft you can rush. With a bit of patience, ingenuity, innovation, and originality, she often manages to achieve something which seemed impossible at first. In 2021 she released her first book, Dried Flower Embroidery: An introduction to the art of flowers on tulle.

Where

Interview

Quadrille©India Hobson

What are your main skills?: I have discovered that there is a great deal of skill in judging which kinds of dried and preserved natural materials will work well with this craft and which will not; which parts of plants to use, and the best technique to use for each.
How do you express tradition and innovation in your work?: Many of my pieces draw on motifs from longstanding traditions in my culture (Moldova), and innovation is at the centre of the craft – everything about it has come from my experimentation, and I continue to enjoy trying out new ideas.
How is your craft linked to your home region?: I’m lucky to have a wide variety of countryside, from moors to dales to coastline, within a short drive of where I live in North Yorkshire. On walks in the local area, I observe details in nature and often forage for materials to dry and use in my artworks.
What does “well made” mean to you?: Made with love, care and attention to detail in particular. You can tell when a maker has put in all the time it takes to strive for perfection.

Olga Prinku is a rising star: she began her career in 2016 and she started teaching in 2018