A Designer in Her Garden
In Conversation with Daniela Doe
By: Julia Le
Daniela Doe in preparation of her latest piece for “WEAR THE ART x FNGRLCKN" exhibitions in Malmö, Sweden.
Introduction: Bloom Scrolling
In each color blocked square, with hair braided into long strands of white and scarlet yarn, the artist poses with, and as part of her work. A quick look at her feed, and amongst many examples, and you’ll find an archive evident of study and experimentation: a clay replica of Maison Margiela’s SS1989 Tabi boot complete with its signature numeric label and painted sole; a deconstructed Nike Cortez upcycled into a fitted corset; and a handloom wired and clamped to a circuit board, producing sound (the caption reads, “This is how I survived the [S]wedish winter.”) Other posts feature original works that extend the artist’s expression: hand-molded ceramics mirrored into cerulean sky, some featuring geometric imprints, and others with carved eyelids; and a dress sewn into an armchair (or an armchair extended into a dress) unpacking the long term effects of quarantine and lockdown on the design of household items and clothing. "If clothes are now part of the domestic realm - and we don't have to move anywhere - can they start to merge with other aspects of domesticity?" In each square, there’s a sense of meaning, or search for meaning. Nothing is without thought.
Her bio reads, “Gardener”. And her latest obsession? Bugs. But more on that later.
A peek at Daniela’s curated work on Instagram.
I first met Daniela Doe through a mutual friend, via Instagram, in 2020. In an endless sea of doom scrolling, and #ads, a pause in the constant barrage of content led to a moment of captivation in something more rarely documented on the platform: an artist and her creative process.
Daniela is a Portuguese multidisciplinary designer, currently based in Malmö, Sweden, and ⅓ of Wild Cosmos Studio, alongside her two friends Sorrel Salb and Sandra Fjin van Draat. With a formal background in graphic and fashion design— but a talent in just about everything else from painting to ceramics, sound design and more— Daniela’s work is rooted in sustainable design and education. All of her materials are sourced as deadstock or secondhand, and upcycled into her earth-inspired creations. She proudly occupies the space of a self-proclaimed lifelong student, while sharing her own wisdom with her community.
After a year and a half of following each other, we finally had the chance to meet (on screen) to share her story, and the symbolism behind her work. Let’s start from the beginning.
A Brief History of Daniela: On Art Appreciation & Education
Daniela’s work has always explored the human connection to nature, in its close examination of details, organic prints, and a playfulness in textures and colors reflects the exposure to what she had growing up. Her father has always been a gardener. Her mother upcycled furniture, and originally opened a flower shop which over time, transitioned into selling arts and crafts. Her aunt is a sculptor and ceramist, and taught Daniela the craft when she was young.
Daniela Doe (named adorably by and after her older brother, Daniel, who was five at the time) grew up in the Portuguese countryside in a multicultural household: her mother is Afro-French, and her father is Portuguese. Having grown up connected to her French heritage, her family widely celebrated the arts, frequenting museums and bookshops, and traveling together on cultural trips.
She credits her family for inspiring her most, sharing their words of affirmation: “When someone in the family is creative, they are told that person has a gift.” From a young age, Daniela remembers building her own toys, and began journaling when she was seven— a habit she’s maintained throughout the years. But while she was encouraged at home to pursue art through her French heritage, she found it to be less culturally appreciated in the more conservative Portuguese landscape.
Daniela persisted in pursuing her creative endeavors, and after focusing on visual arts in high school, at 18, Daniela moved to Lisbon for a Bachelor’s in Fashion Design, where she found a new home in her academic life surrounded by so many fellow creatives. After five years, and realizing she had always enjoyed the final process of creating portfolios, designing layouts, and presenting projects; in her final year of undergrad, Daniela decided to take a course in graphic design. She immediately fell in love with the art in its ability to communicate ideas through text and illustration, and began introducing graphical work into her other creative disciplines. In 2018, Daniela decided to begin her Postgrad in Communication Design and New Media to pursue graphic design.
In 2019, when working for Elementum as a Fashion and Communication Designer, Daniela began learning about sustainable fashion, design, and photography. From there, in January of 2020, Daniela began independently experimenting with texture and tufting, creating graphical rugs out of deadstock yarn, designed to be hung as posters. Especially in the midst of quarantine, Daniela found joy in the process of challenging herself in new things, and refining her skills and practice. When Daniela is not creating, she is always engaging in courses or workshops— whether it’s woodworking, ceramics, or print making, “just to learn things on the side that [I] can bring into [my] work, or not.”
Daniela uses deadstock or thrifted yarn for tufting all of her rugs.
“I consider education very important. I’ve heard that to become a fashion designer or graphic designer, you don’t really need to go to school. I understand why because you can learn a lot of things by yourself. When you’re in college, at least in Portugal, it’s a lot of your [own] work…[but] I think I always enjoyed school a lot, and I’ve always put a lot of pressure on myself to be the best that I can.”
Lately, her interest and studies of entomology have made their appearance in large graphic, geometric rugs, woven with neon botanical shapes. (Right now, tangerine, lilac and green are consuming her color palette.) Daniela has filled folders and folders of bugs as inspiration, translating their organic shapes and bright palettes into graphical textiles. There’s a sense of abstraction and symmetry in her designs. Each step is well-documented: from research, to design sketches, color selection, and execution.
On Community & What’s Next
After losing her job during the pandemic, Daniela moved to Malmö, Sweden in September 2020 as a volunteer at STPLN’s makerspace. There, she began working with other volunteers, further experimenting with upcycled clothing and rugs as a medium, and leading workshops. When more and more of her friends began asking her to help mend their clothes, she started teaching them how to do it themselves, and later expanded her lessons into workshops across Malmö and Copenhagen. “For me what I’ve found is the most important is to share some knowledge, and share what can people do to change some pieces, or to repair— keep [pieces] longer. That’s what I want with my workshops…to create some awareness and to create a space to discuss [ideas and stories].”
In order to start the conversation around people’s perceptions of clothes and experience in fashion, at the beginning of workshops, Daniela often asks “What's your relationship with clothes?”. Some responses are more straightforward, while others are emotional. Her own response? “I love clothes. I love creating outfits, and I think that makes me feel confident to start my day, or to communicate the way I want to be in the world…“[I’m] not minimalist at all. I’m very influenced by the work I am doing at the moment. When I’m doing a rug with certain colors, I only wear more or less the same, matching my pieces all the time.”
I had to ask about the origin of the signature dot which is featured in so many of Daniela’s works, often breaking the symmetry of a design through its shape or color. “In kindergarten, everyone had an animal to identify their things. My mom at the time chose a ladybug so all my things had ladybugs or dots and stuff.” Distilled to a singular entity, or sometimes in pairs, dots remain a telling mark of her work— a reminder of circularity not only in the process of creation, but of the artist’s own story.
These days, Daniela can be found in the studio working towards her full-time textile practice, listening to Portuguese Fado and FKA Twigs. This week, she’ll be featuring a few of pieces at the “WEAR THE ART x FNGRLCKN" exhibitions in Malmö, Sweden, in collaboration with fellow designers, Ine Gyllensvärd and Elizations.
29 April - 18 May 2022 at CowGirl Gallery
19 May - 22 May 2022 at Frank Gallery, part of the Southern Sweden Design Days
Creative Direction by Julia Le
Art Direction & Styling by Daniela Doe
Photography & Video by Sorrel Salb and Sandra Fjin van Draat (Wild Cosmos Studio)