Show Notes
In this episode of NeedleXChange I interview Iskren Lozanov. Iskren Lozanov is an embroidery artist living in Ibiza, originally from Bulgaria. He came third in the 3d Textiles category of The 2025 Mr X Stitch Contemporary Needlework Prize and 2nd in the Open Textile Art category in the 2024 Hand & Lock Prize. We pick up with what’s next for Iskren Lozanov’s practice, including using everyday objects, collaboration hopes, and how this technique can be applied to almost anything. We also get practical about making a living, brand work vs artwork, staying well, and end on favourites plus a brilliant Spice Girls fact. Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:01:20 - Future directions: exploring everyday objects and collaborations 00:03:05 - The freedom found in upcycling and working with found objects 00:06:59 - Balancing slow fashion and original art 00:09:34 - Sharing favorite books and cultural influences 00:13:56 - Music’s role in Lozanov’s creative process 00:17:22 - Favorite films and how storytelling influences his art 00:18:36 - Bulgarian folklore, fairy tales, and cultural motifs 00:19:22 - The acceptance of men in embroidery and needlework communities 00:21:24 - A fact that not a lot of people know about Iskren Lozanov Links: Instagram: iskrenlozano Website: iskrenlozanov.com Intro music is Cyber Bazaar by HATAMITSUNAMI via Epidemic Sound. About NeedleXChange An artist interview podcast exploring contemporary embroidery and textile art. Hosted by Jamie "Mr X Stitch" Chalmers. Support on Patreon Join the Green Room for weekly aftershows, monthly Q&As, and searchable transcripts. Become an Executive Producer to join quarterly roundtables and shape the show's future. patreon.com/c/xstitch/membership Stay Connected needl.exchange | Newsletter: bit.ly/NeedleXChangeNews mrxstitch.com | xstitchmag.com Social: Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | YouTube | LinkedIn
More from NeedleXChange
In this episode of NeedleXChange I interview Haf Weighton, a Wales-based contemporary embroidery and textile artist known for turning place, memory and identity into stitch. This is part two, where we turn to Wales, starting with Arts Council support and moving into language, cultural identity and what it means to be an artist who happens to be Welsh. Haf reflects on bilingualism, creativity and belonging, then we get into the practical side of her work: painting on recycled fabric, hand and machine stitch, and a fine-art-led approach to making, before finishing with books, music, films and an unexpected David Bowie story. Links Instagram: Hafweightonartist Website: hafweighton.art Intro music is New Car Smell by Baegel via Epidemic Sound. About NeedleXChange An artist interview podcast exploring contemporary embroidery and textile art. Hosted by Jamie "Mr X Stitch" Chalmers. Stay Connected needl.exchange | Newsletter: bit.ly/NeedleXChangeNewsmrxstitch.com | xstitchmag.com
In this episode of NeedleXChange I interview Haf Weighton, a Wales-based contemporary embroidery and textile artist whose work is rooted in places, journeys and the details we usually walk past. We talk about the story behind her High Street exhibition, from Arts Council support to a last-minute route to New Zealand and Australia, and the way travel, memory and architecture feed into her work. Along the way we get into sketchbooks, unfinished work, borders, looking at familiar places through other people's eyes, and the part artists can play in bringing new energy to overlooked town centres. Links Instagram: Hafweightonartist Website: hafweighton.art Intro music is New Car Smell by Baegel via Epidemic Sound. About NeedleXChange An artist interview podcast exploring contemporary embroidery and textile art. Hosted by Jamie "Mr X Stitch" Chalmers. Stay Connected needl.exchange | Newsletter: bit.ly/NeedleXChangeNewsmrxstitch.com | xstitchmag.com
In this episode of NeedleXChange, I interview Prisma Andrade, a Chicago-based fiber and textile artist and recent School of the Art Institute of Chicago graduate whose work turns her family's archive into material and asks what makes something sacred. Prisma builds her pieces from spinning, jacquard weaving, dye painting and quilting, treating process as a way to make everyday objects sacred. In Part 2 we trace her path from an arts-magnet high school in Dallas to SAIC, her move from painting into fiber, digital jacquard weaving with laser-cut dyed frames, dye painting and quilting that reads like stained glass, her earlier bodily work, and a quickfire on Sing Street and Magdalena Bay. Links: Instagram: prismacolorhell Intro music is New Car Smell by Baegel via Epidemic Sound. About NeedleXChange An artist interview podcast exploring contemporary embroidery and textile art. Hosted by Jamie "Mr X Stitch" Chalmers. Stay Connected needl.exchange | Newsletter: bit.ly/NeedleXChangeNewsmrxstitch.com | xstitchmag.com
In this episode of NeedleXChange, I interview Prisma Andrade, a Chicago-based fiber and textile artist and recent School of the Art Institute of Chicago graduate whose work turns her family's archive into material and asks what makes something sacred. Prisma recreates artworks and photographs from her family, past and present, using weaving, quilting and dye to disrupt the border between painting and textile. In Part 1 we get into sanctity and what becomes sacred, how framing tells us to pay attention, her family's migration between Honduras, Spain and the United States, nostalgia and inherited memory, the gender hierarchy inside the family archive, and why textiles are the things that survive the chopping block. Links: Instagram: prismacolorhell Intro music is New Car Smell by Baegel via Epidemic Sound. About NeedleXChange An artist interview podcast exploring contemporary embroidery and textile art. Hosted by Jamie "Mr X Stitch" Chalmers. Stay Connected needl.exchange | Newsletter: bit.ly/NeedleXChangeNewsmrxstitch.com | xstitchmag.com
This is Part 2 of my conversation with mixed-media artist Margot Peer. We open with her breakout piece, "Cross Stitch of Me Crying in My Bathroom When I Was 16," scaled up to a three-foot-by-four-foot, full-body stitching experience in yarn, and the accidental "glitch" of cascading threads that became part of her style. Margot talks candidly about what it means to sit and stitch your own crying face, the difference between documenting a real cry and performing one, and the low-resolution "loophole" that let a nude piece slip past Instagram. We also cover animating cross stitch (a six-month stitched video), glow-in-the-dark experiments, needlework's fraught status as fine art at RISD, and a quickfire run through Bladee, Jamie XX, Empire of AI and Where the Wild Things Are. Links: Website: margotpeer.com Instagram: margot.peer Intro music is New Car Smell by Baegel via Epidemic Sound. About NeedleXChange An artist interview podcast exploring contemporary embroidery and textile art. Hosted by Jamie "Mr X Stitch" Chalmers. Stay Connected needl.exchange | Newsletter: bit.ly/NeedleXChangeNews mrxstitch.com | xstitchmag.com