Textile artist Kustaa Saksi delivers a world of psychedelic visions and dreamscapes

The works of Finnish textile artist Kustaa Saksi burst with vivid colour and shapes depicting diverse subjects from history and mythology to flora and fauna. While the subject matter might change, one thing remains the same – they are all visually stunning.

For his latest show, “Woolgathering”, Saksi was inspired by his dreams. It’s the third time he has shown tapestries from his collection, and the first time Hong Kong has hosted a show of his works (his show at Usagi gallery in Central runs until April 17).

“This third collection is really an evolution from my previous two,” says Saksi, who works with mills in Tilburg, the Netherlands. “I really went wild with the kind of materials I used, which include natural, synthetic, tech, mohair, alpaca and even fluorescent. This is in contrast to my earlier works, which use more traditional fibres.”

This illustrates the growing maturity of his work and his evolving mastery of textile art. It also shows the confidence he has gained from challenging the status quo of tapestry design in the course of working with selected textile mills. “I’ve worked with the same mills for four years – we’re always very excited to work together. Obviously they have a lot of other textile designers there. But because of my training, what we manage to do is a bit crazier and new,” he says.

One of the things that makes Saksi different is his background. He is not classically trained in textiles or the craft of weaving, but focuses instead on graphic design and illustration, which he studied at Finland’s Institute of Design at Lahti University and in which he worked for 10 years before making the switch to tapestries.

His first used textiles 10 years ago when he was asked to help make a collection for Italian knitwear label Portofino. While the experience was positive, it would be several years before Saksi had a chance to try his hand at textile design again. The watershed moment came when Saksi discovered a textile museum in Tilburg, and learnt of the area’s history of textile design. It was this appreciation for the art that motivated him to propose a collaboration. Both sides kept an open mind, and a partnership was formed.

“At the beginning, it was difficult to understand the weaving process and see how everything worked together. There are an endless number of possibilities that you can achieve. So to understand what is possible and what is not, that took one year. In a way I still feel that I don’t understand. It’s still a mystery to me somehow,” he laughs.