Sculpting Silk Using Pin-Tuck with Kinga

Kinga is a Hungarian textile sculptor known for her intricate silk sculptures that feel like living organisms. A former bespoke fashion and costume designer for theaters and choreographers, she turned to sculpture to escape functional constraints and explore the full emotional and sensory potential of textiles.

At the core of her practice is the innovative use of pin tuck, a decorative sewing technique she has reimagined over two decades into a method of surface manipulation, transforming flat textiles into flexible, pleated structures. Working with shantung silk (silk dupioni)—a crisp, textured fabric with natural slubs—she starches, folds, sews, sculpts, and occasionally glues the material into rhythmic, three-dimensional forms that retain its shape while preserving the textile's identity.

Her free-standing sculptures often evoke organic structures—blossoms, mushrooms, coral, or the layered textures of bark and petals. She favors neutral tones to highlight form and texture over color, allowing each piece to communicate through its shape, rhythm, and tactile detail.
Kinga describes her sculptures as vessels of feeling— "Textiles are my language, and my sculptures are their poetry," she says. Her work invites a quiet sensory dialogue, offering moments of calm and reflection in an overstimulated world.

She welcomes you into her studio to slow down and engage with the meticulous, meditative process of making, where every fold, tuck, and stitch becomes a living form.