Carola van Dyke is a Dutch contemporary fibre artist based in the UK, working with thread. Through the slow, but deliberate process of embroidery, she creates wall hangings and sculptural works composed of hundreds of individually placed, floating stitches. Each stitch is a quiet decision, allowing time, attention, and care to shape the work.
Her practice is rooted in a deep fascination with colour, texture, light, and movement, and in the fragile space between what endures and what disappears. Using thread as both line and mark, she explores how nature can be held, honoured, and translated, in moments of bloom as well as decay. The suspended stitches respond subtly to air and movement, keeping the work gently alive and allowing viewers to experience it as something shifting rather than fixed.
Craftsmanship sits at the heart of her practice. The slow pace of embroidery becomes a language of care, a way of paying attention to the smallest details of the natural world. The work gently gestures to environmental awareness, inviting viewers to slow down, look closely, and reflect on their own relationship with what is fragile and often overlooked. Her work balances delicacy with strength, precision with vulnerability, resulting in pieces that feel both intimate and quietly powerful.
Organic forms recur throughout her work: insects, wings, flower petals, roots, and their unseen connections. She is drawn to the beauty found in small details and fleeting moments. Colour and beauty are central forces, informed by her Dutch heritage and a deep engagement with 17th-century still life and vanitas paintings. By reinterpreting these historic references through a contemporary lens, she weaves time-honoured symbolism into a modern visual language.
Her work has been showcased internationally, including at the Textile Museum in the Netherlands, Somerset House during Collect Art Fair in London, and leading art fairs such as VOLTA, Art Basel. These exhibitions marked key milestones in her career, positioning her practice within the wider contemporary art world and affirming the relevance of textile art on a global stage. Selected residencies include La Maison de Simon in France, and she was awarded a promising young artist stipend by the Mondriaan Stichting in 1993.
Before embracing the embroidery art, her Textile Taxidermy and cushions have been part of the interior scene for over a decade and have sold worldwide. Her extensive international client list includes Liberty London, Bergdorf Goodman NY, Knoll Textiles, Joseph Abboud , Anthropologie to name a few, as well as many private collectors and international celebrities.
Carola’s embroidery art is represented by Priveekollektie Contemporary Art | Design, a leading international gallery of contemporary and functional art.
