Aino Kajaniemi

Textile artist Aino Kajaniemi is FCINY’s artist-in-residency in October 2017. Kajaniemi utilizes traditional techniques in her work: drawing and tapestry weaving.

Aino Kajaniemi deals with life’s complexity in her work by using the brief moments and passing atmospheres of human life as metaphors for larger themes, such as individual’s growth and difficulty of finding one’s place in the world. She processes these themes in a poetic manner, focusing on the individual. 

"To me, even sadness becomes more approachable when woven into textile, as the material itself has soft and optimistic qualities."

Currently Aino Kajaniemi is working on a series of unicorn themed tapestries. She was originally inspired by the Lady and the Unicorn, a 16th century tapestry in Musée de Cluny in Paris, after which she designed a series of ten works. Kajaniemi will continue her research on the topic in New York by observing and sketching the Hunt of the Unicorn, one of the seven Unicorn Tapestries from the 15th century, currently located at the Met Cloisters.

What interests Kajaniemi the most about these Medieval tapestries is the ‘millefleur’ – the style in which the background is covered abundantly with plants and flowers. Based on the sketches made during her residency in New York, Kajaniemi will start weaving her unicorn series when back in Finland.