Kustaa Saksi
Kustaa Saksi
Roots
Kustaa Saksi’s ‘Roots’ is a fifteen-metre-long installation made from Japanese washi-paper yarns and glossy viscose threads. The wall hanging depicts a pine tree seemingly pulled from the earth and suspended in space, a reflection on resilience, vulnerability, and the relationship between humans and nature. During weaving, basting threads held large floats in place. For the installation, Saksi trimmed the floats into fringes that draped across the work. He wove the colour fields loosely in satin weave to achieve rich, vibrant tones, and layered the yarns with fine polyester monofilament for added stability.
‘Roots’ references memories of wind-bent pines along the Gulf of Finland and the work of Pekka Halonen, the renowned Finnish painter. The work is part of ‘A Season in Dialogue with Pekka Halonen’ and runs alongside the exhibition ‘Pekka Halonen: An Ode to Finland’, on view at the Finnish Institute in Paris from 7 November 2025 to 21 February 2026.
Photography by Vinciane Lebrun
Golden Threads
The Jacquard-woven tapestry ‘Golden Threads’ emerged from a collaboration between Kustaa Saksi and Oribe, a luxury haircare and beauty brand. The work celebrates the beauty of the natural world and the enduring value of craftsmanship. Saksi is known for his graphic narratives expressed through patterns, textiles, and installations. His work begins with observations of nature, translated into a subtly abstracted visual language, as is evident in this piece.
‘Golden Threads’ is a wall hanging composed of a rich combination of materials, including mohair, alpaca, linen, cotton, polyester and metallic-coloured acrylic threads. This layered selection of fibres creates a play of texture, sheen and depth.
