Carola van Dyke

Carola van Dyke is a Dutch textile artist based in the UK. Using predominantly free‑motion machine embroidery, she builds sculptural forms and wall pieces from hundreds of individually floating stitches, experimenting with scale, tension, and layered surfaces to create depth and a quiet sense of movement. Each artwork holds a deliberate balance between precision and unpredictability, where the unseen spaces between stitches carry as much significance as the stitches themselves.

Firstly, where did you grow up and where do you live now?

I grew up in the Netherlands, firstly in The Hague, but from the age of eight in a small town near Breda. I first came to London in 1991 as part of an art college exchange, but moved here permanently in 1993, after being asked to make the illustrations for a fashion magazine. I now live and work in Hastings, East Sussex.

What is your background in textiles?

Although I spent my youth immersed in drawing, after completing my art foundation course I decided to do my BA in Fashion Design & Illustration at the University of Fine Arts, St Joost in Breda, Netherlands. Textiles as an art form didn’t really exist, and Fine Art as a subject was just too alien to me. Although my family was not necessarily artistic, they were immensely creative, especially my mother. She paints, knits and had her own dressmaking course running from home, so I was introduced to creating all sorts from an early age.

In her sewing studio I would collect scraps of fabrics from the floor and hand sew them all together, all different shapes, colours, textures, threads, into big textile wall hangings or items of clothing. I’ve always had a deep love for drawing, but I’ve also been fascinated by the tactile beauty of textiles. At some point, these two passions naturally intertwined and the art of drawing with needle and thread was born.

How do you describe your art?

I create contemporary tapestries and sculptural works using thread, building up hundreds of individual floating stitches to form layered, delicate surfaces. I often describe my work as ’painting with thread’, as the brush is my needle, and the paint is my thread.

If not answered before, what techniques do you use?

I primarily work in free-motion embroidery, layering stitches that hover in space rather than sitting on a solid fabric, so threads form layered, semi-transparent structures. I explore scale, tension, and layering to create depth and subtle movement.

My process combines traditional stitching with experimentation in stitch techniques, thread combinations and materials like wire or resin. The stitching is rather intuitive; the interplay of upper and lower threads can produce unexpected tones and effects, so I must stay very focused and respond to the work as it develops. This slow, mark on mark, meticulous approach tells me what my next steps are, so it does demand intense concentration.

I work between control and chaos, pushing the sewing machine and the materials, and I often work from the reverse side. By leaving loose threads hang and certain areas unstitched, it brings life and a lace-like fragility to the work. Each piece slowly comes alive, balancing precision with unpredictability, and the invisible spaces between stitches are as important as the stitches themselves.

What is it about textiles as an art form that appeals to you?

Textiles have always held a special fascination for me. I am drawn to their texture, tactility, and especially how they invite touch and close examination. Their history captivates me too, from the sumptuous tapestries and rich clothing in 17th-century times to the quiet memories of my mother working with fabrics at home. Textiles feel alive; they carry stories, culture, and memory.

For me, textile art is multi-sensory; culturally rich, visually compelling, and it resonates with people on an emotional level. It occupies a space between art, craft, and daily life, blending the personal with the universal. Working with thread allows me to explore beauty, fragility, and the delicate systems of the natural world, while connecting with memory and material. It offers a language of care; slow, deliberate, and attentive, making them the perfect medium to reflect on what is precious, fleeting, and worth preserving.

I also enjoy challenging viewers’ expectations by taking familiar material like thread and transforming it into forms they don’t expect, surprising and delighting them.

Embroidery is such an interesting combination of simplicity and complexity, how a fundamentally simple process can give rise to an endless variety of colours, textures, patterns, emotions and intricacy. For me thread embodies a sense of spontaneity, reflecting life and energy.

How has your work evolved?

My work has evolved significantly over time. The first few years after my BA I mainly concentrated on illustrations and paintings, but I really missed the connection with textiles. From 2000 onwards, I worked as a textile designer-maker and over time built a commercial practice creating textile taxidermy and cushions for the international interiors world. While my textile business supports me financially, it also negatively limits my ability to develop any new artistic directions. Repeating and reproducing my own designs eventually became emotionally draining, and I realised I needed to make a significant artistic change.

Around 2017 I began experimenting part time with embroidery as a fine art medium, and only over the past three years have I been able to develop this practice more fully. It started with two-dimensional forms, but I am now more experimenting with sculptural embroidery.

A reoccurring theme throughout both strands of my work is nature; its beauty, fragility, loss, and interconnectedness, as well as using the sewing machine as a drawing tool. While the materials and scale have evolved, my fascination with the detailed elements of the natural world has remained constant. Thread has become the most direct and expressive way for me to explore these ideas.

Where do you work?

I have a beautiful studio in a converted stable block in Hastings, which is part of a bustling and slightly eccentric creative community. It has Victorian red brick buildings and oversized beach huts, and is home to 40+ studios and small independent businesses. I feel incredibly lucky, as my studio is very spacious with high ceilings, French doors and original features. It means I can set up different projects in different corners of the studio and leave them out for periods of time. It gives me both the physical room and the mental space to experiment, reflect, and develop ideas.

As you mention it on your website what are your views around craft within art? Do you see them as separate entities?

I see craftmanship and art as deeply intertwined rather than separate categories. The labour-intensive nature of craft is process heavy with hours of focused, skilled, and deliberate work. It isn’t just a technical exercise, it is a form of thinking, problem-solving, and expression. Each stitch, knot, or weave carries intention, sensitivity, and a connection to materials, which is central to how the work communicates with the viewer.

In contemporary craft, the process itself becomes part of the concept. Working with materials at length allows for experimentation, discovery, and dialogue with the medium. Craft practices like embroidery, ceramics, or weaving are not simply about making beautiful objects; they are about asking questions, exploring form, texture, and space, and creating works that can communicate visually and emotionally. The patience, discipline and attention to detail involved are not just decorative qualities; they are part of the language of contemporary art, a language capable of subtlety, nuance, and conceptual depth.

For me, thread is both medium and message. The slow, meticulous act of stitching is a way of thinking, observing, and responding to the world. Craftsmanship becomes a lens through which ideas about nature, fragility, strength and beauty are expressed. The labour is not separate from the art, it is what gives the work its presence, depth and emotional weight. Art is about what calls you, rather than what categorises you.

What are you most proud of in your art career so far?

I have a few moments, but I do think one couldn’t have happened without the other: In 2023 I was accepted for a 3-month artist residency in Normandy. I arrived with just my sewing machine and 200 threads. It was a challenging and often lonely experience. I left my family behind and found myself alone in a vast studio on the edge of the woods, with only limited French to rely on. But I did it! That period of solitude became deeply productive, giving me the space to confront questions in my practice and find important artistic answers.

One other achievement that I am proud of is that my practices have been self-supporting and I have always self-funded my work through my skills. It hasn’t always been easy, I had to make compromises, and not every decision was the best artistic one, but you must also survive.

I stumbled at times, particularly when major luxury department stores went bankrupt and left significant invoices unpaid, but I always found a way to stand back up and continue. Building my career independently has given me resilience and belief in my work.

The third moment came after Collect Art Fair 2025 where I exhibited 2 embroidery pieces, and I was approached by a gallery who immediately signed me on, and took my work to Art Basel and recently to Art Palm Beach Fair. Seeing my embroidery recognised on that international stage made me incredibly proud, not only of the work itself, but also of the journey it took to get there, on my own two feet.

Do you have any advice for aspiring textile artists?

Advice is so personal, but I would say keep being true to yourself, don’t be afraid to jump in the deep, take risks and make mistakes. But try not to lose yourself in the big art world out there.

Is there anything you would like to add?

My heart truly lies in making the larger pieces, but they can take four months or more to complete. So recently I’ve started introducing smaller works and objects alongside them, allowing for a balance between ambition and practicality.

Carola’s work is in the exhibition Soft Power at D Contemporary, 1 Birdcage Walk, London 11^th – 26^th June

https://www.dcontemporary.com