QUEEN OF EVERYTHING
Lotta Grimborg

Lotta Grimborg is a Swedish textile artist based in Gothenburg. She uses the colors, tiny glass beads and various stitching techniques as the finest tool to talk about Competition, Rivalry, Feminism and Beauty.

     Good Sessions 
You had a professional Tennis sport carreer, how did you go from sport to creation?

     Lotta Grimborg
Many of my pieces revolves around the concepts of sports and competition. I see a lot of similarities when it comes to art and sports, that is why I love to combine these two worlds. Tennis for me was an arena. A kind of theatre. Both with actors (the players), with scenography (the tennis court) and attributes (the rackets and tennis accessories). And every trophy represented a battle.

Nowadays I’ve changed arena, the white walls of galleries and exhibitions spaces have become part of the scenography, the artists have become the players, art critiques and art lovers the audience and the needle and the thread have become my attributes.

Back then the tennis racket was an extension of my body, now the embroidered pieces have become a substitute for the racket. Back then I played until my body was broken, until my thigh was injured and my feet were sore. Now I bead and I stitch until my neck is aching. I don’t stop with the tiny stitches until my back suffers. Ironically last year I got tennis elbow from too much static work. 

The straight perfect lines of the tennis court also inspires me, lines that are really hard to copy and paste into textile because textile is such a flexible material. And the strict rules of tennis! I often set up rules for myself when I bead. It’s like I’m competing with myself but also with time. Because time is very much consumed when I create my textile works.

     Good Sessions
For you creations you chose an unusual support, the pearl, the fabric, the embroidery. Is there a story behind this choice?

     Lotta Grimborg
I have a background in jewelry with a Bachelor Degree in Jewelry Art. The beads, the tactility and the delicacy comes from that world. During my last year of the Bachelor program I wanted to move away from the body as a canvas, but still relate my work to the body. Thats when I found textile.

I believe that a piece of fabric is not a blank paper. When I read textile I can most likely tell the material’s context, belonging, and how it’s produced. When I speak textile I can add a statement, a political view, or a new concept. But the piece of fabric will never get rid of its inborn characteristics.

The language is embedded in the woven threads, in each wrinkle, in the digital printed pattern and in the colour it’s been given. I use fabric as a tool to communicate, as my placard, as my canvas. I quilt, I mend, I bead and I stitch.

My working method is three-dimensional bead embroidery combined with application, patchwork and digital printing. Every stitch is made by hand, it is of importance when dealing with the issues of competition, fighting spirit, and the strive for perfection.

I love textile because I can tame it, fold it, stretch it and shape it with force and stitches. I use embroidery as method because in the repetitive movement I feel calm, my thoughts can wander away and stitch by stitch I create my own material.

Lotta Grimborg in her studio, Gothenburg, 2020 ©Lotta Grimborg

Shell, sunflower, mother and moon, 2020 ©Lotta Grimborg

     Good Sessions
There is a feminist message in your pieces, delicate but impactful...

     Lotta Grimborg
Girly aesthetics such as glittery things, sequins, beads, romantic decorative patterns, objects that are overly decorative and overwhelming are often considered ugly and worthless, like trash. Girly objects traditionally have lower status and lower value because they are considered cute, soft and harmless.

In my work I want to claim the girly elements, let it take up space, let it be an important part of the message. For me pinkish, glittery, glimmering aesthetics has become a tool to talk about feminism and to empower women. It’s in that aesthetics i feel comfortable and at home.

     Good Sessions
Are your materials and colors choices linked with sportwear? Does this color palette mean something to you? 

     Lotta Grimborg
I always choose materials based on its connotations and inborn characteristics. Sometimes, when I can’t find what I’m looking for, I print my own fabric. In my latest works I’ve used sporty fabrics, my old sports bra, parts from my tennis skirt and printed marbled fabrics based on photos of my own trophies and my trophy shelf. When it comes to colours, they origins from the tennis court, my tennis track suit, photos of sports from my childhood and other sporty elements. I use materials that carries a bodily memory, that brings me back to the tennis court and the changing rooms. 

I want to talk through textiles. Find textile materials with an already hidden sporty language and context. 

I’m also very attracted to pink, it’s such a strong colour. Before ending up in sport as a theme, my work often revolved around the girly image, girly aesthetics, the world of make-up and beauty commercials. About having to compete and deal with the mythological ideal woman Venus. The goddess who encompasses: love, beaty, desire, prosperity and victory. Some of the colors that I still use comes from the palette of make- up: Blush Pink, Kinda Sexy Rose, Please Me, Full Stop Red, Cherry Bomb, Material Girl Wild Pink.

For me pinkish, glittery, glimmering aesthetics has become a tool to talk about feminism and to empower women.

Trophy self detail, Textile art, 2020 ©Lotta Grimborg

Trophy self larger view, Textile art, 2020 ©Lotta Grimborg