"PIKE PLACE — DISTILLED" Artwork

Ray and Nia are textile artists based in Bangkok, Thailand, and partners for over ten years.

Our work begins with photography. We capture landscapes and places that stayed with us—often quiet moments encountered while living in unfamiliar environments. These images are not reproduced directly, but reconstructed through embroidery, allowing thread to rebuild the scene slowly over time.

Using manual stitch mapping and industrial embroidery machines, each piece is carefully constructed with close attention to density, direction, and structure. This process allows thread to recreate light, atmosphere, and depth while introducing its own physical limitations. The tension of the thread subtly shifts the surface, creating small distortions that reflect the way memory itself changes over time.

Rather than preserving the photograph as an exact record, embroidery allows us to translate how the place felt when we experienced it. Certain details become clearer, while others soften or disappear. The image is shaped not only by what was seen, but by what remained emotionally present.

Embroidery is inherently slow and accumulative. Each stitch contributes to the final surface, embedding time into the work itself. Through this process, thread becomes both image and structure—holding moments that no longer exist in the same way, but continue to live on through memory.

Our work explores how landscape, material, and memory intersect, transforming personal experiences of place into physical, tactile form.