Manoela Grigorova

Manoela Grigorova is a London-based multidisciplinary artist creating vibrant embroidered and mixed-media artworks, jewellery and wearable pieces using bold colour, contrasting textures and salvaged materials.

Born in Bulgaria in 1983, Manoela grew up surrounded by rich visual traditions, including folklore, textiles and tapestries that hung on walls like artworks. Following the fall of Communism in 1991, her family moved to London, where she later studied Art and Fashion Design.

Disillusioned with the fast pace and values of the fashion industry, she chose a different path, working in animal welfare while continuing to nurture her creative practice with nature as her primary source of inspiration.

A member of the Society for Embroidered Work, Manoela is passionate about championing contemporary fibre art and challenging traditional perceptions of stitch-based practices. Influenced by Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism, her work often presents colourful, abstract worlds that invite close looking and tactile curiosity.

Manoela has always created, working across drawing, painting, furniture upcycling, clothing and jewellery. During the pandemic in 2020, embroidery became a turning point in her practice. What began as a way to process uncertainty, evolved into a deeply meditative process and a central medium in her work.

Her practice explores contrasts and contradictions: fast, instinctive mark-making with alcohol ink set against the slow rhythm of hand embroidery. Many works combine layers of paint, ink, fibre, beads and found materials, while her jewellery draws inspiration from art, nature and the ornate textiles of her childhood.

Inspired by organic forms, florals, corals and microscopic life, Manoela creates tactile works celebrating texture, curiosity and transformation. Through colour, material and surface, she invites joy, sparks curiosity and evokes the childlike wonder of first encountering the natural world.