Maria Sigma is a weaving practice that creates limited-edition collections, unique one-off pieces, and commission-based work for residential, commercial, and hospitality projects.
Maria is an award-winning textile designer and weaver who transforms exceptional natural materials into captivating textiles and artworks tailored for a diverse range of projects, spanning commercial, residential, and hospitality realms. Her notable collaborations include partnerships with renowned interior designers, architects, furniture craftsmen, magazines, fashion brands, and galleries such as Susie Atkinson Interior Design Studio, MAKE Hauser & Wirth Somerset Gallery, Hole & Corner Magazine, J.M. Szymanski | New York, Soho House, Selfridges, TOAST, COS, H.J. Hakimian Gallery, The New Craftsmen, Jonathan Tuckey Design, Conran Design, and Rockwell Group, contributing her artistic touch to extraordinary ventures.
She studied at Chelsea College of Art & Design and since she graduated in 2014, she has developed her weaving practice in London. Writer of Weaving: the Art of Sustainable Textile Creation, and teacher of Weaving From Waste Workshop.
Influenced by my Greek heritage and fuelled by a passion for mathematics and craftsmanship, I make vibrant yet minimal contemporary textiles.
My work is an exploration of architecture, building structures, weaving traditions, natural landscapes, and storytelling with a distinct focus on deconstructing and redefining traditional weaving methods. I deliberately discard the pursuit of perfect symmetry and eschew 'self-punishing' techniques that leave no room for creative exploration.
My design approach is based on creating beautiful textiles through zero-waste design and slow-making craftsmanship. High-quality and sustainable natural fibers are key to my work philosophy, in which the aspiration for textile longevity through simplicity and sensibility is essential.
Weaving is my way of putting the everyday chaos in order and making something honest and beautiful out of it.
I strongly believe that the importance of weaving must be highlighted; fabrics reside in the everyday and inhabit almost every corner of a household; they create a boundary between us and nature, the culture of the body and the external world. They contribute in creating a sense of something familiar and beloved. The determinant role textiles play in our life, the power of colour, or the lack thereof, the achievement of high aesthetics through simplicity and the use of sustainable materials, are my sources of inspiration and motivation. This is reflected in my work and the use of natural shades, highlighted by creating different textures through different weave structures and yarn thicknesses.
Textiles with a ‘feeling at home’ - a sense of place and identity; functional or not, they reflect our daily rituals and become part of our personal collections and timeless heirlooms.
Please do reach out if you wish to work together or commission work.
EXHIBITIONS:
‘Roots’ XTANT, Mallorca, 2024
‘Objects of Contemplation’ MAKE Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 2024
‘every somewhere’ MAKE Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 2023
Weaving Residency at MAKE Hauser & Wirth, 2022
Create Academy x Anthropologie | London Design Fair, London 2022
Weaving Residency at COS x London Craft Week, London 2022
Flow & (A)symmetry, Adamantia Art Space, Andros Island Greece 2021
Collect | International Art Fair for Contemporary Craft & Design, London 2021
Blanket Coverage, Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre, Cwmbran, Wales 2020
Hatch ‘19, The National Centre for Craft & Design, Lincolnshire UK 2019
London Craft Week | ‘The Future of Craft’ at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower, London 2019
Harewood Biennale | ‘Useful/Beautiful: Why Craft Matters?’, Harewood House, Leeds 2019
‘Opening Narratives’ | MAKE Hauser & Wirth Gallery, Somerset UK 2018
London Design Festival | British Craft Pavilion, London 2018
Cockpit Arts | LCN, London 2018
The Prince’s Trust Christmas Fayer, London 2017
Good Design Greece Exhibition 2017, Athens 2017
Chelsea College of Art & Design, London 2014
COLLABORATIONS:
Susie Atkinson Design Studio, UK
Hauser & Wirth Gallery, UK
Hole & Corner Magazine, UK
J.M. Szymanski | New York, USA
Soho House, UK
Jonathan Tuckey Design, UK
Selfridges, UK
London Craft Week, UK
Flow Gallery, UK
COS, UK
TOAST, UK
Mare Studio, Greece
Mouki Mou London, UK
Conran Design Group, UK
Rockwell Group, USA
F. J. Hakimian, USA
Lang Architecture, USA
The Greek Foundation, Greece
Studio Noam, UK
Studio Reed, UK
Navy Grey, UK
The New Craftsmen, UK
The July Hotels, Netherlands
Τhe Garnered, UK
MANNA Hotel, Greece