Five years ago, Mathis Esterhazy purchased an industrial embroidery machine at a trade fair in Switzerland. The machine’s original purpose was to embroider small logos on an industrial scale, with thousands of repetitions. With much trial-and-error experimentation, Esterhazy has been busy repurposing the device through custom computer algorithms and mechanical modifications to achieve large-format, tapestry-like images, an ongoing work in progress. The new techniques that he has developed along the way are used in creating objects that are unique but also industrial,
personal but mechanical,
expressive but useful:
works of art that work as furniture.
Mathis Esterhazy (b. 1958) lives and works in Vienna.