Olga Prinku is an embroidery artist who uses real organic material as her thread. She uses various techniques to attach natural materials – such as dried and preserved flowers, foliage, grasses, seedheads and berries – to tulle fabric.
Olga created the concept of flowers-on-tulle embroidery in 2016, and the techniques she uses are entirely self-taught. Her first book, Dried Flower Embroidery: An Introduction to the Art of Flowers on Tulle, was published in 2021.
Aesthetically she draws inspiration from walking and foraging in the countryside around her home in North Yorkshire, as well as the traditional folkloric motifs of her home country Moldova. She has a degree in graphic design from the University of Cumbria.
She sees her art as paying homage to nature’s beauty by combining natural elements in new ways, while redefining what embroidery materials can be. As her creative process demands careful attention to each material’s limitations and potential, her artworks reflect the fragility yet strength of the natural world and humanity’s relationship with it.
