"Blooming heart" cushion

The design of this heart with roots was born in a very concrete moment. Berta was working in an exhibition called ‘Caníbal’. It was an exhibition “about dislike and the idea of gobble a person down”. She was exploring the concept of images of human anatomy. On the other hand, Nature has always been a source of inspiration. ‘Caníbal’ ended and this design came up. “It talks about change, about flourishing, about growing”.

Made of linen. Cushion filling not included.

Measurements

50 x 50 cm. aprox.

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Berta Salinas is a multidisciplinary artist. You can find her either working in the film industry, as an Art Director of an advertising campaign or designing and embroidering cushions. Yes, like the ones we bring to you at Sabellar.

Berta doesn’t remember exactly when she began to get an interest in the art of embroidering.“In fact, it was always there”. First, because an aunt who sewed magnificently anything that fell on her hands, and then because when she was 7, she started to do sewing classes at school. “My school was into alternative education, and a lot of importance was given to arts, crafts and creativity”.

The embroideries done by Berta are very different from the ones made by her aunt. Not because the thorough and thoughtful technique, that remains pretty much the same, but because of the concept. Berta’s designs are rooted in other techniques she masters, like photography, painting or engraving. But, above all, everything boils down to how she feels at that exact instant of creativity. “I’m very intense, María”.  

That’s how different body forms (eyes, hearts, hands…) mix with words and floral motives, in a universe where love, dislike, uncertainties, doubts and sexuality prevail. Life, after all, from a conceptual point of view that talks about Berta, but also about the rest of us.

Berta wants, above all, to “emphasize the idea of the artistic object”, assert the importance of the things that accompany us in our everyday routines, the importance of decoration, from a point that is both exclusive and artistic.  

That’s why all of her cushions are totally handmade. Berta carefully searches and pick the cottons and linens she is going to use. Sometimes they are new, others they are old. She depicts the original design on paper and then goes directly to the cushion to see how it develops and gets the final form.

“Ideas usually come when I’m immersed in the creative process. Since I get the first idea for a design, buy the fabrics and embroider the first cushion... it usually takes a month. With the rest is easier. Then, the embroidery time depends on the difficulty of the design. But it usually takes me between one and three days to hand-make just one cushion”.

Someone called her cushions “soft poems”. She doesn’t remember who said that, but we couldn’t agree more.

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Leer aquí la historia en español