Heidi König lives in the border town of Rheinfelden in northwestern Switzerland, just 100 meters from the Rhine River, which forms the natural boundary between Germany and Switzerland. She is married, the mother of two adult sons, grandmother of two young granddaughters, and recently retired.
Through her grandmother, she encountered a sewing machine at an early age. During her visits, she was allowed to sew rows of stitches on a Singer treadle machine. Needle, thread, fabric, and paper have accompanied her ever since.
Her work is abstract and intuitive, defined by continuous, freely machine-stitched lines that form organic structures across the surface. These repetitive lines—her signature—function like a painter’s brushstrokes. She uses them to build the foundation of each piece. When stitching, she often describes the experience as meditative, a practice that has helped her navigate difficult times with calm and focus. She works best in quiet solitude.
Her fabric “sandwiches” consist of plain cotton in various colors layered with black or white cotton-polyester batting. She stitches only free-motion lines—forward and backward, long and short, irregular, crossing, or curved—creating movement and structure. After washing and drying, the surfaces shrink and intensify. She then paints both sides with acrylics and oil sticks, a process she has refined over twelve years.
Currently, she focuses on double-sided 3D works featuring truncated pyramids, oriented upward and downward, allowing viewers to look in, out, and through.
