New designer-in residence: Joanna Czekajlo

Joanna Czekajlo is a textile artist and designer whose work engages critically with material practices and questions of sustainability within the textile field. With a background in design and fine arts (Kunsthochschule Weißensee Berlin and Gerrit Rietveld Academie Amsterdam), she is currently completing her master’s degree at Kunstuniversität Linz.

During her studies, Joanna developed a growing interest in working with existing materials, such as leftover yarns, fabric scraps, selvedges, and other discarded textiles, prioritizing these over newly produced resources. She embraces the irregularities, textures, and inherent forms of such materials, integrating them into her process as intentional design elements. Her practice is increasingly shaped by a deeper investigation into the ecological and social dimensions of textile production.

Joanna’s current project is the development of a material bank, a platform that collects, maps, and categorizes byproducts from various stages of textile manufacturing. The goal is to build an accessible resource infrastructure for designers and artists, making high-quality surplus materials available that would otherwise be discarded.

During her residency at Lottozero (9-22 June), Joanna is researching circular practices within Prato’s textile district. As part of this process, she is also experimenting with production remnants to create material samples that highlight their creative and functional potential, contributing to an evolving aesthetic rooted in resourcefulness and the richness of re-use.