AIEVEA means "for real" in Romanian
"Aievea" project is the result of the partnership between Semne Cusute Association and The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, The ASTRA National Museum Complex, The Transylvanian Museum of Ethnography, and "Anton Badea" Museum of Ethnography.
inspired by heritage
Museums not only revealed their most fragile treasures, but they also embarked on this quest. A curator from ASTRA Museum Complex recreated a shirt from The Museum of the Romanian Peasant heritage.
daring for more
Passionate embroiderers were invited to join this quest based on their previous work; some even embarked voluntarily. They were challenged with 19th century textile fragments from museums heritage. This exhibit offers a glimpse of what they accomplished.
return to the essence
"I wished for it - the challenge to go beyond artistry, and to prove myself, and to get to the essence of the shirt as a way to understand the women of 19th century. Hemp fabric was love at first sight! Everything fell in place once I started to work with it." Alina
To complete their shirts, embroiderers had to begin with thorough documentation, then choose appropriate materials, and in the end reveal the spirit of the ethnographic region.
"It's as if I enter a new dimension each time I embroider; as if my ancestors are there for me, to guide me, to show me the right way." Antoanela
"I sew my shirts with love; I always embroider with good thoughts." Antoanela
"To me, Aievea was a way of going back to roots; I wanted to contribute to revealing and preserving our traditional shirts." Stela
"I made this shirt with my grandmothers in mind, as they didn't get to wear Romanian shirts, but endured famine, and deportations. To honor them, I will go on and embroider many more." Cristina
capture the spirit
"Every shirt mirrors the Woman, because she feels it long before making it, and thus, her feelings are conveyed to her creation. It's like writing a poem with your needle." Maria
"My shirt reveals purity and innocence, the inception of later shirts, just as still fresh memory of childhood holidays at my granny do - old roads, hills, forest, vineyards, and plum trees."
Gabriela
AIEVEA collection; Romania traditional shirts; based on artefacts of the National Museum of the Romanian Perasant, and ASTRA Museum (2018)Semne Cusute Association
bold choices
"Choosing the right motifs to complete the fragment that inspired my shirt was the biggest challenge, but not the only one." Irina
"Balancing the extremes of textiles and threads I used for my shirt was a difficult task. Our great-grandmothers must have been very eager to show off their boldness." Irina
AIEVEA collection; Transylvania traditional shirt; based on artefact of the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant (2018) by Alexandrina VasileSemne Cusute Association
"I feel I understood my mission; in the future globalised world, when our descendants will search their roots, they'll find these signs on my shirt, and they'll understand their meaning." Parascovia
seek new paths
"Through the shirt I created, I wished to build a bridge between the old ways, and the new times." Stefania
"We live times of doing all at extreme speed, yet we feel we're always behind.This shirt offered me the luxury of slowing the pace." Nadia
"I savored the present at slow speed, revealing an ethos while making this shirt. I feel as if I embroidered the past that mirrors a future without me, yet possible because of me." Nadia
"It's so fascinating to see what I can create with a needle and thread on a piece of textile! History can be written with the signs I embroidered, passing on the energy for the future." Cristina
"The artifact was part of a beautiful shirt, mirroring a woman's skills and her soul; my shirt now mirrors my soul. A fabulous heritage was left to our care, and it's our duty to pass it on." Raluca
"I signed up for this project when I finished the embroidery classes at the Association; I wanted to bring to the Present a fragile fragment of the Past, so it could get to the Future." Nicoleta
rejoice hands artistry
By far the richest project of the Semne Cusute Association, AIEVEA is not only important in the number of shirts created, but mostly in regaining of traditional materials, design, and techniques. However, no stone was left unturned while while creating these shirts, no compromise was allowed in their evaluation.
The skills achieved to finish the projects exceeded all expectations.
Some have learned sewing techniques the old way, from their mothers and grandmothers, others learned by themselves, while some were former students of Semne Cusute Association's embroidery classes.
"I wanted to encourage others to dare. Even though some things may seem impossible to achieve, they become real (aievea) once you make the first step." Alina
AIEVEA collection; Romania traditional shirts; based on artefacts of the National Museum of the Romanian Perasant, and ASTRA Museum (2018)Semne Cusute Association
Photographs by
Mihaela Contiu
Raluca Savulescu
Videos by
Raluca Savulescu
