STUDIO
KATHARINA SPITZ

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN AND TEXTILE CRAFTING















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Alle Rechte, einschließlich der Vervielfältigung, Veröffentlichung, Bearbeitung und Übersetzung, bleiben vorbehalten, Katharina Spitz.🌹️

 AUTONOMOUS

WORK



TEXTILES
SCULPTURE 


PERFORMANCE

FASHION



FILM

TOO SILENT, TOO LONG


Too Silent, Too Long is an ongoing project and a body of crocheted works that move from implicit expression to direct political engagement. I once avoided text in my work, fearing it would constrain interpretation or overpower nuance. But reflecting on my works so far, I’ve come to realize that my work is political, and that in times like this needs to be somewhat explicit. Silence, especially in today’s world, is not neutral— and it is a privilege we cannot afford.





We too will pass, so how do we want to be remembered?
crocheted wallhanging (2023),
Property of Stiftung Hamburger Kunstsammlungen





Through crochet, I engage in a slow, deliberate form of resistance—asserting the value of female craftsmanship while creating space for contemplation and care. Each piece carries statements that are clear but poetic, formed and stitched in time by urgency. Unlike social media, which often demands certainty and punishes vulnerability, this process allows me to question, to reflect, and to grow.







Lächel doch mal (2024)
crocheted wallhanging, 
wool yarn on recycled plexiglas,
63x64cm
(available)



The works are multilingual because protest is culturally and contextually shaped and determined—language carries position, and every act of resistance arises from a specific time and place. Living as a German in the Netherlands, I often feel the tension of being between languages: competent but not instinctive, emotionally distanced, yet acutely aware of nuances others may miss. Coming from personal experience rather than a moral high ground this position sharpens my sensitivity to how structural biases—especially those against women—are subtly encoded in everyday language and behavior. Too Silent, Too Long is both a personal and political response to that realization: a reclaiming of voice through craft, and a call for thoughtful, embodied protest.




Dein blaues Herz ist mir nicht groß genug,
crocheted and embroidered wallhanging,
cotton yarn and beads on recycled plexiglas
98x80 cm
(available)














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I SEE YOU
SEEING ME


 


Poet Manka Menga and conceptual fashion designer Katharina Spitz collaborate to explore themes such as womanhood, social cohesion, and memory. The performative work ‘I see you seeing me’ is a combination of object, word, and embodiment.

What unites them is a shared longing rooted in an critical but open view on time, space and society. They also share a poetic, critical, and brutally honest approach to their thinking and expression. While Manka distills her message into words, Katharina translates the conflicts she encounters into the material world. Together, they developed a threefold work that highlights the conflicts they encounter as well as their shared experience. 



‘The emotional journey continued with “I SEE YOU SEE ME,” a collaborative piece by designer Katharina Spitz and poet Manka Menga. The duo courageously explored themes of womanhood, ritualistic desires, and the embodiment of space and time, deeply inspired by resilient women who have carved out their legacy in both history and society’s consciousness.’ - Kaltblut magazine

Photography: Ruben Hilkens for Fashionclash FestivalSound: Sophie SchiettekatteFunded by: Amarte Fonds and Fashionclash Festival




The work consists of two embroidered Khangas, a crying dress crocheted from hair and embroidered with glass beads, a hair-veil, a soundscape that includes spoken word and a lament by Sofie Schietekatte and a gestural performance. 

We aim to develop it further into a video-installation and perform it at various locations. Please feel free to reach out! 
Link to a video of the performance at Marres (Maastricht):





Forget Me Not




As the 6th Resident of the Fonds for Young Design Programm of Stiftung Hamburger Kunstsammlungen I was invited to develop a new work and exhibition for MK&G Hamburg. 

The exhibition Forget Me Not and the purchase of a whole body of work by Stiftung Hamburger Kunstsammlungen for the MK&G collection marks a milestone within my artistic practice. I am very grateful for the opportunity.

In the exhibition “Forget Me Not” at the MK&G, the designer explores varied forms of memory culture – ranging from monuments to personal symbolic trinkets to dynamic textile objects – to question why and how we choose to hold onto certain memories. She makes the ambivalences inherent in the forms taken by such tokens of remembrance visible by combining opposing fabric properties and thus creating an ambiguous materiality: Ceramic imprints of body parts recalling the striving for immortality embodied by antique marble busts are encased in finely spun thread; crocheted textiles and flowing wool fabrics propose an abstract alternative to the “knot in the handkerchief”; and delicate forget-me-not embroidery is nearly absorbed by black velvet. “I plead for a mobile, social form of memory that embraces impermanence, as opposed to a society that tries to manifest itself as eternal through its commemorative objects, resisting the passage of time and mortality,” the designer explains. In addition to newly created works, the exhibition also features objects from the MK&G collection, including for the first time the series “Mein Denkmal” (My Memorial) by photographer Bettina Flitner (b. 1961) as well as fashion photographs by F.C. Gundlach (1926–2021), a four-faced wooden head as a memento mori (c. 1650), and intricately woven objects made of human hair (Hamburg, c. 1800–1850) as personal mementos of the deceased.