Textile artist Koral Antolín takes an active role in Madrid Design Festival

Born in 1989 and based in Madrid, Koral Antolín develops her artistic practice in a territory where drawing becomes matter and gesture acquires body. Trained in Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid, with a specialisation in drawing and printmaking, her early trajectory spans different disciplines — art direction, craft design, photography — before finding in textile art a language capable of bringing them together with coherence and depth.

Thread, wool and cotton appear in her work as elements of visual and spatial construction. Koral understands textiles as an expanded medium: an active surface that enters into dialogue with architecture, with the scale of the body and with the slow time of manual making. Her work is grounded in traditional techniques — embroidery, punch needle, manual tufting, braiding, appliqué — explored through a contemporary lens that prioritises texture, rhythm and the relationship between void and matter.

Exhibition “In constant movement”

At Gancedo’s showroom on Velázquez 38 (Madrid), Koral Antolín presents a journey through vital energy expressed through embroidery and techniques such as punch needle. The work explores identity and transformation, including symbolic references to motherhood and Paleolithic Venuses. For Antolín, texture and volume do not merely animate the work but become the very landscape in which the viewer can lose themselves.

In 2018 she founded Studio.fi together with her mother and sister. What began as a minimalist textile embroidery brand, focused on craftsmanship and material quality, gradually evolved into an artistic practice applied to space. The studio specialises in creating bespoke tapestries and textile artworks for interior and hospitality projects, always maintaining direct control over process and execution.

Studio.fi works from the premise of commission as dialogue. Each project begins with a detailed brief that analyses place, scale, light and the client’s specific needs. From there, the studio develops a technical and material investigation that leads to textile proposals designed to integrate naturally into their architectural context, bringing a tactile and quiet dimension to space.

The studio’s production combines unique pieces and limited series, all made entirely by hand. In recent projects, Studio.fi has undertaken highly complex commissions, including textile installations composed of dozens of pieces, demonstrating a rare ability to translate craft language to architectural scales without losing precision or coherence. In the work of Koral Antolín and Studio.fi, textiles cease to be surface and become a sensitive structure. A practice built on respect for material, time and place, understanding art as a presence that accompanies and lends character to space.  

Roundtables at Fiesta Design

To explore the impact of design on society and wellbeing, Gancedo is hosting two gatherings at its Velázquez 38 space (Madrid):

February 11 (7:00 pm): “Textile art as a sensory and emotional experience.” A discussion on how textiles connect with our emotions. Participants include artist Koral Antolín, Cecilia Mallardi (co-founder of Calma Chechu) and David Pastor (creative director of Rabadán). The session will be moderated by designer Chio León.

February 25 (7:00 pm): “Design that transforms hotels and restaurants into memorable experiences.” Focused on the hospitality sector, this panel will feature María Ruiz Pardo (Atelier Mel), Álvaro Mesonero-Romanos (MR Studio), Eva Longoria (Rockwell Spain) and Isabel Luque (Fuerte Group). Moderated by journalist Mario Suárez.

Project by Koral Antolín