L’Abu Studio: Where Carpentry And Embroidery Come Together

L’Abu Studio produces a unique range of custom handmade wooden pieces featuring detailed embroidery

Estela Botello grew up in Madrid, surrounded by a talented family of craftspeople. Looking back on her childhood, she recalls picking up her first needle around the age of six and learning to embroider and crochet with her grandmother (an expert at making intricate tablecloths). Since picking up her first needle, Estela has rarely put it down.

Estela is the founder of L’Abu Studio (@labustudio), producing a unique range of custom-made decorative objects combining carpentry and other crafts such as embroidery and macrame–from unique wall hangings to embroidered furniture.

As a young adult, Estela studied at the Center for Fashion Design in Madrid (CSDMM) and landed her first job at a fashion company called Blanco, where she would go on to work for five years. It was during this time that Estela developed a fascination, not just with design, but with the processes used to transform those designs into tangible creations: printmaking, pattern-making, fabric-making, and sewing. Afterward, she was snapped up by the multinational clothing company, Inditex, and would later work for a company in Turkey. For Estela, these experiences only made it clearer that she wanted to turn her attention to working with her hands to create unique pieces.

After a friend gifted her an electric fret saw, she began working with wood and quickly bought herself a Dremel tool. She started to combine different crafts and took an interest in string art, which involved hammering nails into wood and then winding thread around them to create unique patterns. From here, Estela decided that, instead of using nails, she would drill holes into the wood and embroider patterns onto it using a needle and thread, taking traditional techniques and giving them a modern twist. She started with simple geometric shapes before moving onto more and more complex designs. She references Umasqu Studio, Gustav Klimt, William Morris, among her influences.

In 2015, Estela took a job in Bangladesh and moved there for a year and a half. It was while living in Bangladesh, surrounded by a bold arts and crafts scene, that Estela felt inspired to keep working on her pieces and made the decision to leave the fashion industry for good. She bought her own CNC machine and, towards the end of 2018, founded her own company: L’Abu Studio.

If you would like to learn more about how to embroider onto a wooden base, sign up to Estela’s course, Embroidery on Wood. You’ll master traditional techniques to create modern pieces bursting with heart and soul. Estela will teach you different stitches and how to use color and texture to create works of art.

You may also like:

–What Is Punch Needle and How Is It Different to Other Embroidery Styles?
–The History of Embroidery: From Tutankhamun to the 21st Century
–Illustration Tutorial: How to Add Embroidered Details to Your Paintings