Desedamas
Many times they ask us how Desedamas was born and how we ended up working together.
I suppose that having a common childhood and parents who always encouraged our creativity helps a lot, but it was the circumstances that put us together in this adventure. We shared a lot during childhood, and then life temporarily separated us. When we met again, once adults, we began to paint silk, partly for hobby and partly for therapy … and we discovered that this was what we wanted to do and, furthermore, do it together.
We both came from very different areas. Cecília, formed as a Technical Draughtswoman, worked in a private company as Purchasing Manager. Mercè, Chemical Engineer, in the Department of the Environment at the Generalitat de Catalunya.
In 2000, we decided to turn our lives around and make a living from our passion. At first we made crafts with silk, always looking to give an added value to the pieces we were creating and not just painting. Every piece was unique, and we sold our work in craft fairs throughout Spain. In 2006 we began to paint silk for patchwork and, although we knew how to sew, we began to learn specific techniques. Silk had always been our “material” so, despite not being widely used in textile art, it was natural for us to go on working with it. Uniting these two skills, silk painting and textile art, opened to us an immense field in which to experiment. So much so that we have explored and developed our own techniques to work with this material, and we became also trainers.
“We currently work the synergy between crafts and textile art, as it’s difficult to mark the boundaries between both activities.”
Desedamas by Mireia Sala
If there’s anything better than growing up surrounded by paintings, I don’t know it.
Desedamas are Cecília and Mercè, women, sisters and respectively mother and aunt, about who’s writing these lines.
It’s hard to talk about them and the whole world that surrounds them without speaking of my own world, because I’m like a bad guest that never totally leaves.
I will go back, if I am allowed, to those flood-light days that remain immovable in my memory, where they both were painting on the porch of what had once been our house and now no longer is.
The music sounded quiet and a soft whisper of voices lowered to my room. As called by serenity, I climbed the spiral stairs that led to where they were both and I lay on the floor, just below the horizontal frame from which they tightened the silk. The smell of wood and dust was mixed with that of special silk paint, which smells sweet and fruity. They, on both sides of the frame, painted in total synchrony.
The paint went through the silk and expanded through the fabric, while the light penetrated the cloth and made the colors it captured vary their intensity. From time to time, some drop of paint that the silk didn’t manage to absorb fell down.
The wooden floor stained with thousand colors. This will be their mark for ever.
Maybe those were the moments that led me to be who I am. Added to all the trips throughout Spain, France, Portugal and Germany, where I was lucky to accompany them thanks to the fact they converted their passion into their profession.
They went everywhere, from fair to fair. There they understood the idiosyncrasy of the craftsmen, who spend so many hours in the workshop, in the solitude of those who work with their own hands, who then need to find themselves in community.
To me, beeing just fifteen, they opened my eyes to completely new worlds. And for them, they changed their lives. Forgive the indiscretion, but there they laughed, drank, possibly cried and surely, fell in love.
I keep with special remembrance those teenage summers that I spent at their side.
Now I have grown up, and I venture to say that them, as craftswomen, too. During those hot summers, even though I was the only teenager, somehow their experience as craftswomen was in full puberty too. And now that years have passed, their pieces are eventually adult, mature.
Thanks to the passion and the experience, they have reached an intimate, private, degree of knowledge of the silk. They have understood everything that surrounds the delicacy of the material and the learning has made them able to turn it into their means of expression.
With pride and admiration, I observe how they’re growing in the world of textile art, almost non-existent in our country.
And again, a change, the last one. They have turned their profession into an art.
Mireia Sala (Igualada, 1989)
Graphic designer and illustrator.
BIOGRAPHY
Desedamas is formed by Cecília and Mercè.
We work together in most of the actions we do, in these moments we use the name Desedamas, that means ‘silk and more’.
Desedamas
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 “Tast Textil”, Quais des Arts, Cugnaux (Tolouse), France
“Tast Textil”, Prague Patchwork Meeting, Praga, Czech Republic
2017 “Tast Textil”, Aiguilles en Luberon, France
2016 “Sinestesia” exhibition, Les Escaldes- Engordany, Andorra.
2016 “Tast Textil” exhibition, International Wine Tourism Conference, Barcelona.
2015 “Tast Textil” exhibition, Carpa Restaurant Les Cols, Olot, Girona.
2015 “Tast Textil” exhibition, 26º Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork, Sainte-Marie-Aux-Mines, France.
2015 “Sinestesia” exhibition, Festival Internacional de Patchwork, Sitges, Barcelona.
2014 “Sinestesia” exhibition, 6 International Quiltfestival, Wilwerwiltz, Luxemburg.
2013 Exposición “Sinestèsia”, Quilt en Sud, San Jean de Luz, France.
2012 Interquilt, Girona,
Arts Textiles, Brioude, France
2009 “Quilts con seda” monographic in the National Exhibition of Patchwork (San Sebastian)
2005 “Transicions de llum”, colaboration with the photographer Pep Izquierdo, Ars Antiqua, Igualada, Barcelona
2004 Exposiciones en diferentes salas: Igualada, Sant Celoni, Santa Coloma de Queralt, Tarragona, Vilanova del Camí
2003 Exposiciones en diferentes salas: Igualada, Copons, Sitges
2002 Exposiciones en diferentes salas: Igualada, Santa Margarida de Montbui, Vilanova del Camí, Madrid, Barcelona
ORGANIZED EXHIBITIONS BY DESEDAMAS
2011 mmmh, va de recetas (Creativa Barcelona, Artesanía Catalunya)
Inspirados en la música (Artesanía Catalunya)
2010 Son aquellas pequeñas cosas… (Creativa Barcelona, Tendencias creativas Bilbao)
2009 Primavera, verano, otoño, invierno… (Creativa Barcelona, Tendencias creativas Bilbao)
2008 Inspirados en la música (Festival Internacional de Patchwork de Sitges)
AWARDS
2009 Finalistas Premios Nacionales de Artesanía, innova category
2008 Finalistas Premios Nacionales de Artesanía, product category
DESEDAMAS PUBLICATIONS
2013 Monstruos, bichos y princesas, DIY children project book
2011 mmmmh, va de recetas, cooking book / catalog
2010 Son aquellas pequeñas cosas…, calendary
2009 Primavera, verano, otoño, invierno…, calendary
2008 Inspirados en la música, catalog
MEMBERSHIP
Gremi Artesà Téxtil de Catalunya
FAAOC Federació d’Artesans d’ofici de Catalunya
AEP Asociación Española de Patchwork
SAQA Studio Art Quilt Associates
CTM Creadores Textiles de Madrid
Cecília
COLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS
2017 De la Puresa al Desitg, Gremi Artesà Tèxtil de Catalunya,
Relarts, Federació d’associacions artesans d’ofici de Catalunya, Barcelona, itinerant exhibition, Spain.
Art Textures 9, France Patchwork, France (itinerant exhibition)
De la puresa al desitg. Gremi Artesà Tèxtil de Catalunya. Barcelona, itinerant exhibition, Spain.
Grande Finale European Art Quilts Fundation. Historich Museum Benelanden, Goes, Holland
2016 Wide Horizons VI – SAQA Europe (itinerant exhibition)
2014 VII European Art Quilt Foundation EAQF, travelling exhibition, Dutchland.
Wide Horizons – SAQA Europe (itinerant exhibition of Europe)
Radiation, International Radiation Association IRPA, Geneva, Switzerland.
2013 Color Wheel of Emotions, SAQA, EEUU (itinerant exhibition on EEUU and Europe).
Tactile Arquitecture 2013, International Quilt Festival, Houston, EEUU (itinerant exhibition).
XXII Premio Artesanía Unicaja, Jaen.
Artextures, France Patchwork, France (itinerant exhibition)
“Los cuatro elementos”, Festival Internacional de Patchwork, Sitges
2012 “All that jazz”, Road to California, Ontario, California (EEUU)
“Conectados” Festival Internacional de Patchwork de Sitges, Barcelona
5 Europäische Quilt Triennale, Heildelberg, Germany (itinerant exhibition)
Open European Quilt Championship, Veldhoven, Ducthland
Premios Ramón Barbat i Miracle, Valls, Tarragona
2011 Bienal Internacional Textil, “Aire”, Oxaca (Mexico)
Galeria Usupi, Girona
“Chocolat” Saint Jean de Luz (France)
XXI Bienal de Artesanía Caja Jaén (Jaén, Málaga, Cádiz)
2010 “Quand les matières se rencontrent ” Sainte-Marie-Aux-Mines (France)
The Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, Great Britain
2009 Premios Ramón Barbat i Miracle, Valls, Tarragona
2007 “Eséncies téxtils”, (Terrassa Textile Museum, Artesanía Catalunya, Barcelona)
2006 AFAD, Utretch, Holland
AWARDS
2017 Artextures, Accésit, France
2015 Festival Internacional de Patchwork, Accésit, Sitges, Barcelona.
2014 Festival Internacional de Patchwork, Primer premio categoría artísitca, Sitges, Barcelona.
2013 Accésit XXII Premio Artesanía Unicaja, Jaen.
2012 Interquilt, Girona, Best artwork
2011 Quilt en Sud, Saint Jean de Luz, Francia, premio France Patchwork
Fil d’Or, Barcelona, Mención Especial
2010 Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork, Sainte-Marie-Aux-Mines, Francia, 2º premio
Fil d’Or, Barcelona, Special mention
BIBLIOGRAPHY (books and catalogues)
2018 De la Puresa al Desitg
2017 European Art Quilts Grand Finale
2016 “Abstract & geometry” by Martha Sielman
2015 “Sal y Pimienta” Festival Internacional de Patchwork de Sitges, España.
2014 VII EAQF European Art Quilt Foundation
“Radiation”, International Radiation Protection Association
“Mediterràneo” Festival Internacional de Patchwork de Sitges, España
2013 “Los cuatro elementos” Festival Internacional de Patchwork de Sitges, Spain
Artextures, France
XXII Concurso Artesanía Caja Jaen
Color Wheel of emotions, SAQA, EEUU
2012 SAQA Journal, EEUU
5 Europäische Quilt Triennale, Germany
“Conectados” Festival internacional de Patchwork de Sitges
2011 XXI Bienal de Artesanía Caja Jaén
Revista France Patchwork , nº 109
“mmmmh… va de recetas”
Bienal Internacional Textil “Aire”, Oxaca (Mexico)
2010 16ª edición Carrefour Europeen du patchwork
Mercè
COLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS
2018 Bojagi Korea Forum exhibition, Seoul, Korea
Festival Internacional de Patchwork de Sitges, Spain
2017 De la puresa al desitg. Gremi Artesà Tèxtil de Catalunya. Barcelona, exposición itinerante, Spain
Grande Finale European Art Quilts Fundation, Historich Museum Benelanden, Goes, Dutchland
2016 Bojagi Korea Forum exhibition, Suwon/Hwuasung, Korea
2014 Radiation, International Radiation Association IRPA, Geneva, Switzerland.
2012 Open European Quilt Championship
Premios Ramón Barbat i Miracle, Valls, Tarragona
2011 Festival Internacional de Patchwork de Sitges
Galería Usupi, Girona
Exposición pieza única, Burgos
“Mi ciudad”, Madrid
2010 European Art Quilts VI (exposición itinerante))
Premis Ramón Barbat i Miracle, Valls, Tarragona
2009 XX Bienal de Artesanía Caja Jaén
2007 “Mujeres del Mundo”, Colective exposición para recaudar fondos para la ONG, Soria, Spain
“Eséncies téxtils”, (Terrassa Textile Museum, Artesanía Catalunya Barcelona), Spain
AWARDS
2017 1er Premio Pieza única, Concurso Artesanía Burgos
2014 1er premio Quilt artísitico, Festival of Quilts, Birmingham.
2013 Festival Internacional de Patchwork de Sitges, 2º premio diseño original, Sitges, Barcelona
2012 Interquilt, 1er premio objeto, Girona
2010 Fil d’Or, Barcelona, Special Mention
2009 Fil d’Or, Barcelona, Special Mention
BIBLIOGRAPHY (books and catalogues)
2018 De la Puresa al Desitg
2017 European Art Quilts Grand Finale
2014 “Radiation”, International Radiation Protection Association
“Mediterràneo” Festival Internacional de Patchwork de Sitges
2013 “Los cuatro Elementos” Festival Internacional de Patchwork de Sitges
2011 “Dime lo que te gusta” Festival Internacional de Patchwork de Sitges
2010 European Art Quilts VI
2009 XX Bienal de Artesanía Caja Jaén