Spotlight: Kinga Foldi, Textile Sculptor

Kinga Foldi has been creative since a young age. She studied traditional craft techniques but is drawn to textiles for their endless possibilities. Using pintucks and folds, she creates her textile sculptures.

How did you get started making art? Always an artist or was there a moment?

Since my childhood, I have been drawing and creating objects out of found materials. I was often alone without the company of other children, so I used these times of loneliness as creative moments. I realized at a very young age, that art is something that I have to practice day by day. It belongs to my life, determines my everyday routine, and gives me comfort.

Why textiles? Why silk?

I like to work with different materials, especially soft ones like paper and textile.Textile is a fabric, that covers us from the moment of our birth. It surrounds us everywhere. The art of textiles offers endless possibilities for creation.

I always studied traditional craft techniques with passion. My mother taught me the basics. Later on during my university years I learned weaving, bobbin lace making, and many other techniques that have been used for centuries for making textiles, costumes, and decoration purposes.

When I first touched silk, it was a miraculous moment. I was mesmerized by its shine, the sticky touch of mulberry silk, and the beautiful colours. The qualities of shantung silk are those that I can work with when I make a costume or a sculpture.

What do you do differently? What is your signature that makes your work stand out as yours?

At the begining I experimented with different craft techniques. I enjoyed finding new perspectives in the material I use or finding the limits of a technique.

I made bobbin lace out of copperwire, created origami costumes out of silk and so on. But I really wanted to find my own technique. After years I realized, that it would be the pin-tuck, this very simple sewing technique, that I could develop and alter according to my needs. This would determine my future practice. I did a lot of research to make sure, this was a way that no one else used pin-tuck before.

Where do you find inspiration for your works?

I have a childhood memory of a garden that is full of exotic plants like ginkgo biloba, old olive trees, and huge pine trees. For a small child, they seemed like giants. That garden was my hiding place, the scenery of my childhood years, like a real Paradise.

I think, that I’m trying to recreate this garden in my works. You can always discover some natural forms and patterns in my sculptures. I’m constantly looking for these patterns, especially the striped ones that remind me of the pintucked fabric. You can find them everywhere, in the bark of the trees, the ripples of the sea, or the vineyards.

When it comes to creating are you more of a planner or an improviser?

I always start with drawing. I have a rough plan in my head, but at the moment when I begin to work with the fabric, I don’t stick to my plans anymore.

When I begin to fold the pin-tucked silk, it shows me forms that I couldn’t have imagined before. This is the way a conversation begins between the fabric and me. When I have a basic form, I put the sculpture aside for a few days, before continuing.

At the next session I discover new angles, new possibilities again, and I continue to build the sculpture accordingly. So it’s more improvising than planning.

Describe your creative space.

I work in a small studio in our house. It’s equipped with all the necessary tools and fabrics I need. but nothing very spectacular. It is situated in a garden, so my inspiration is really near.

When I need to concentrate it is a perfect space to work. My table is always crammed with fabrics, papers, pieces of different projects some coffee and with gifts from my children.

Do you use a sketchbook or journal? How does that help your work develop?

I have sketchbooks and many drawings on separate papers. I started to write a journal just recently. Sometimes they help.

I often go through my drawings to remind myself of inspirations I already have found. Those sketches are more like collections of memories. 

How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?

I constantly work on multiple projects at a time. I always let the pieces rest for a while, to see them from a different perspective. Meanwhile, I begin a new work. Sometimes there are quite different projects that I’m working on in parallel – jewelry, a sculpture, a costume reconstruction, or a theoretical work.

Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works? How does a new work come about? 

My most recent work titled „Down The Hollow” shows the bark-like colour and texture of a huge tree. A tree, which is hosting a shelter, a hiding place. The orb-like shape is a comforting cover where you are protected, you can be alone, hide or continue your way down in the hollow. This piece is inviting the spectator on a journey to a secret place where anything is possible that one desires. I have discovered these hollows in the tree trunks during my morning walks. Looking closer at them, I saw a miraculous microscopic world consisting of fresh green moss and tiny fungi. This is a very complex piece. Not only the philosophy behind it, but also its construction. It is a summary of my experiences in textile sculpting. 

First, I had to define the size and the shape of the sculpture. The shape and the size both required the use of a hidden structure, a frame. I chose to build a base out of cotton and brass wire. I bent the brass wires to shape a whole, intact orb-like form. Then I covered this skeleton with cotton. Once the glue dried the cotton base became quite hard and rigid. I began to cover it with the pin-tucked fabric. The function of the base is to maintain the orb-like shape, but it also provides freedom in shaping the surface as well. The pin-tucked silk does not have to uphold the form and the structure. Thanks to the hidden structure, the silk was relieved and became able to move more freely, creating a more delicate and rich surface. The frame also made it possible for me to open up the orb-like form. This way I could show the inside of the hollow as well. The sculpture became deeper, more structured, I could build a cave-like architecture. I started to fill up the inside with pin-tucks as well.

The use of colours is the result of the theme as well. I felt that they were indispensable in reaching a covering, warm effect. I colour the silk before sewing. The final pattern would look like a woven ikat fabric. The process of pin-tuck sewing is a meditative process, folding and sewing the fabric line by line, admiring the growing thickness of the fabric, waiting patiently for the surface to grow. The structure of the thickly pin-tucked silk seems like the texture of a tree bark, where microscopic lives flourish, hiding, finding shelter for themselves. The coloured patches amplify the striped pattern. They highlight certain surfaces, leading the eyes towards a central intersection, down directly into the hollow.

Which part of the design process is your favourite? Which part is a challenge for you?

My favourite part is when I’m in the flow of making. When I alrady have a basic form and just have to continue the building of the sculpture following my instinct. The most difficult part is to decide which plan to choose. I have many ideas and want to try out so many new ways, but the time is limited, so it’s alway difficult to decide.

How does your formal art education help your work develop? Does it ever get in the way?

During my education I learned many techniques I can use and also got a lot of help from very good professors about the way an artist thinks. I can select very easily what works best for me. I listen to all advice, I just don’t fit them in to my practice if they are not consistent with my thoughts.

Is there an overarching theme that connects all of your works?

The theme of shelter is something that keeps popping up from time to time in my works. The concept of shelter determines my choice of fabric, the techniques I use, as well as my source of inspiration. Whenever I create a silk sculpture, I am also recreating this special spiritual space.

How does your environment influence your creativity?

From time to time I need to go for a walk or even travel to places where the built and natural environments are different from the one that is surrounding me.

How is your work different than it was in the beginning? How is it the same?

I shape my sculptures more consciously and in a more disciplined manner, thanks to the experiences I collected in the past two decades, but I also try to preserve my experimental spirit.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work?

For me my work isn’t an obligation, it’s my life. I feel complete when I can do what I want to do, to create objects. It’s my own language, without it I would be dumb. So my real motivation in work is to stay alive. 

Where can people see your work?

This year is really rich in exhibitions. 

• „Ab Ovo – Back to the Roots” solo exhibition – Gyöngyös (Hungary) until mid summer
• „Silken Wonders”solo exhibition – Hotel Root Karaköy, Istanbul (Turkey) until 12 July
• „Tolerance Limit” VIII Intenational Triennial of Textile Arts – Szombathelyi Gallery, Szombathely (Hungary) 21. June-31. August
• Homo Faber 2024: „The Journey of Life” – Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice (Italy) 1-30 September
• „To Touch” Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art – Guimaraes (Portugal) 7. September – 15 December
• Solo Exhibition – Gallery B32, Budapest (Hungary) 14 November – 6 December
• European Prize for Applied Arts – Grande Halle of the Anciens Abattoirs site, Mons (Belgium) 24 November – 16 February 2025
• Beginning in September my sculptures will be available at Double J Gallery in Dubai (UAE)

Learn more about Kinga on her website. Follow Kinga on Instagram.

Interview posted May 2024