About - Diana Dorado

Hi, I’m Diana, thanks for visiting. My practice focuses on memory, a deep sense of wonder, caring, loss and transformation. Textiles allow me to capture ideas in an intimate way. The slow process of hand stitching and drawing with thread is a practice that connects my hands directly to the materials, with touch, while allowing my thoughts to develop. I usually work with natural fabrics, second hand pieces found in vintage or thrift stores, and inherited materials. These materials are the main base on which I embroider and apply other textiles.

When I compose a piece, I start from personal and family experiences, sensations, emotions, or relationships I weave with the natural world. To construct my stories, I document oral histories, memories, or conversations that embody past experiences to embrace and express a deeper sense of myself.

My work continues a tradition of generations of the women in my family -and the women in many families- who, in embroidering and sewing, reproduce a gesture that unfolds over an extended tempo that allows me to reflect and repair.

In the section called Calico, you can read what I write about these ideas (for now, only in Spanish).

I was born in the foothils of a jungle region, in Amazonia, in southern Colombia, growing up surrounded by plants, animals and rivers that largely influence my work. The women in my family are a beacon for my creative process. From my mother, I learned to work with needle and thread, little by little adding knowledge and technique to my creative process.

My professional experience includes working for luxury ready-to-wear houses and sportswear brands. The opportunity to work hand-in hand with uniquely specialized ateliers in soft woven, tailoring and embroidery deepened my appreciation for the richness of materials, the hours of dedication to handmade techniques, and their cultural value.

My degrees include a BFA in fashion from ESDi in Barcelona and an MFA in design from IFM, Institut Français de la Mode, Paris, where I lived and worked. Before that, I received a Master's in French language, and worked as a teacher of French and Spanish to high school and university students.

I currently live and work in the Washington DC area.