Marceli Klimek: September 2025

Overhead view of the hat with accessories.

The MDJ Papier project, in collaboration with Muzyka Dla Jeży [1], is my attempt at a more contemporary and involved way of working with embroidery and the context of where and why it is made. It is inspired by the electronic ambient music created by Igor Torbicki and Jakub Pawlak. I really enjoyed listening to their first album Muzyka Dla Jeży [2] and following Zapętla [3] EP. Both giving off strong emotions that I caught onto and honed in to work out shapes, colours and compositions. I experimented with a similar working process in my BA graduate work, Cuh Opilamonnia Rs, but only as an element of a whole project, so this was my chance to really focus and refine those ideas. MDJ isn’t music that I find myself listening to every day, but it’s something I began to admire because of the way it stayed in my mind, a bit like reading a book. Getting deeply engrossed, but only when you hold it and open it and stare. I was privy to some of the behind-the-scenes production of the album, and that informed my perspective in more personal ways through conversation and getting to know the artists behind the work. This was in mind with the theme of communication that I keep forwarding throughout all my projects, and felt like an appropriate branch in that direction. I realised that often when taking inspiration from music, it is from artists whose either reputation or output/work-wise, are far above me professionally. It has often felt pointless trying to create a piece of embroidery in a fashion context that fits that artist, with the realistic idea that they might ever wear it or appreciate it. The antithesis of what I feel healthy communication is in the abstract artistic sense. On my end, at least, everyone involved is in some way on a level playing field with the additional inexperience of each other's practical disciplines. Embroidery is pretty far removed from music, seemingly. Differences that make it all so exciting and difficult to predict outcome-wise.

Regarding the outcome, I decided it would be a hat, a cap style. It would be worn during the performance by MDJ and would act as a complementary item to their live music. Alternatively, it behaves as a container of an experience, representing my interpretation of their current portfolio, a physical review, or memory. Embroidery for an electronic music context means considering how the thread interacts with strobe lights, darkness and any surrounding environment. I used bursts of slightly reflective yellow neon thread throughout the design to make the hat stand out. I wanted to be careful with this balance as I believe it should be delicate between how much attention the art takes from the object it is complementing. These reflective braids, done with Hansen Stitch [4], were blended with a pale yellow that worked with the other pale and slightly beige cotton threads. The Hansen Stitch was pretty convenient to use because it is only anchored at the start and end of the working process, making it really good for working on curved surfaces like a hat. Sculpting around a sphere. The whole palette was based on colours that came to mind from the scenery I imagined when listening to the tracks. KONIEC [5] is widely cinematic and feels like I’m watching a scene of someone walking through the city in frenchthe middle of the night with a flurry of taxis on the road with yellow lights underneath a deeply dark blue sky. i jego przyjaciele feat. Filip Domarecki [6] solidifies a beat and rhythm that vibrates throughout the album, staining everything with a sort of silky pale blood. I love the buildup to mocno gazowany jez [7], the way everything pools under that track and then gets cleaned up and cut through with elektrojez [8] in a super striking and electric way. The start of the album feels warmer, with the end feeling melancholy but hopeful, a spectrum of salmon to ultraviolet.

Aside from colour, a specific shape structured from lightning and that overall smoothness and wide sound was formed, to have one side much sharper with a soft “belly” in the middle and one side much softer with sharper ridges. A strong and imposing shape that I chose to grab and clutter the surface of the hat, emphasising the round silhouette. Realising this in a flexible white card multiple times, layering everything all over works really well on a black base. A strong superimposition of layers that works with certain stitches. There is space between the curves for Soft String Padding [9], which creates a nice raised layer that I covered with fabric complementary to the base. Raised work [10] needlelace then works as a chainmail over those areas, flat or raised. Any kind of netting has an awesome effect on smooth paper, and I worked with watercolour paint to hint at and play with that embroidery, which exists as a third-dimensional layer compared to the two-dimensional drawings beneath. It is unfamiliar for me to experiment with the medium of paint in this way, in a similar way to print, but not quite the same. Especially in the order of work, I could be much more experimental here with drawing on colour as I went along, whilst embroidering with pre-printed fabric appliqué [11] or as a base, everything is much more permanent and set. This experimental aspect suited the overall vibe I was going for in this project, and the paper here works as a “layer, fabric of sound” anchored to the base quite crudely. The majority of paper appliqué here is embroidered around the edges in stitches least damaging to the paper, whilst also revealing most of its surface. This works out well when the whole point is to yield to the paper as much as possible. The effect comes off as quite patchy with those contrasting bright stitches, which isn’t something I’m used to, but feels appropriate and brash in the context of the sounds and textures it is representing.

Other experiments with paper relied on enlarging existing stitches like Point à la minute [12] to fit in slits of paper underneath every line. Weaving into the existing structure. Then, repeating that stitch into a pattern to legitimise and solidify that design. Expressing that experimentation pretty blatantly, partly for that loose atmosphere of design, but also the free nature of embroidering without any distinct plan. Inspired by the active listening of music, and then translating those thoughts into stitches in real time. Always having that one area where an experiment is conducted and then another where it is brought back in small bursts throughout the piece. In a rule of three of sorts, but in the symbolic sense. Thinking about the balance of how much is where on the piece. Noticeably, the left half of the hat is way busier with embroidery than the right. The intention was to have a light, on the edge of overwhelming feel to the composition. Lines of paper curve around the centre and all point towards the front and right half of the dome. Implying movement and direction, where things might go. The back right half is contrasted with the front left, also extremely busy, but through technique, not the amount of stitches. A thick Hansen Stitch and crushed velvet fabric raised appliqué bordered with Bullion [13] and French Knots [14]. Stitches that overlap any paper or appliqué rather than piercing into it. There isn’t a clear direction for anything on the piece; it just exists to reference everything else in proximity or overall composition. A composition that favours a focus on the individual wearing it might be more suitable for performance next, as an alternative design.

Another design element made possible by paper is the sharp spikes created by the material. A representation of hedgehog spikes from the aforementioned Muzyka dla “Jezy” (Music for hedgehogs). A fun visual reference that I maximised in one of the accompanying magnetic accessory pins with sharp red unsecured spikes streaming over the edge of the base fabric. The question of whether to secure or keep elements loose was considered, but the execution differed immensely based on the base fabric. In the hat, it felt important to include black silk here and there to ground any colourful elements when they became too overwhelming during the stitching process. Black silk and stranded cotton also become lines that weave in between some of the design elements throughout the cap and congregate at the symmetrical centre to then trickle onto the cap. A subtle and symbolic representation of embroidery on the hat. Black thread on black fabric; the colour raised from the base. In its most basic form.

The embroidery works with the context; it is collaborative throughout and ends up in the hands of MDJ for any future use in performances, worn or displayed. The experience of making this piece has been extremely rewarding, from the active communication between me and the musicians mentioned. The experience is as valuable as the end result. I think that a methodology that focuses on collaboration to encourage art cultivated in the same spaces/ adjacent creative levels and environments is valuable in the way it can synchronise practices across disciplines. The aspect most intriguing to me is the way I felt like a fan/audience member to the media I was consuming, but very much in control of how I interpreted it in a resulting artwork. I was comfortable where it ended up. Some quotes from Alexander McQueen echoed through my mind throughout this project: “Style is not about the clothes, it is about the individual”[15], and “I think of people I want to dress when I design.”[16] This process can exist on the grandest scales of celebrity, but also in the most raw and simple terms. I need to know and possess some level of understanding of who I’m creating embroidery for. With some level of that in return, otherwise, the embroidery would be lacking, and the process would be incredibly lonely.

Bibliography

[1] https://www.instagram.com/muzykadlajezy/?hl=en

[2] https://open.spotify.com/album/2Dh0ajwPWLzEW9VzcpxRnt

[3] https://open.spotify.com/album/176PhvOgzVsmsqmdW3pCoE

[4] https://rsnstitchbank.org/stitch/hansen-stitch

[5] https://open.spotify.com/track/0jl0wfLfHTIgfu9fQsYTuu

[6] https://open.spotify.com/track/4vnCekzkpSLw1jh0ycAGmO

[7] https://open.spotify.com/track/3rvoWnAKt2qHl9kl92uANj

[8] https://open.spotify.com/track/2xnQR10W8pxFOJhAYdkUXE

[9] https://rsnstitchbank.org/stitch/soft-string-padding-goldwork

[10] https://rsnstitchbank.org/structure/raised

[11] https://rsnstitchbank.org/stitch/stab-stitch-applique-beadwork