Donata Gervasi

Born in Milan in 1951, Donata Gervasi grew up with a mother who was a passionate and skilled knitter and seamstress — a love of handcraft she passed on to her daughter. When Donata moved to Texas in the 1990s and 2000s, she discovered the world of patchwork and quilting, which at the time was virtually unknown in Italy.

In the United States she had the opportunity to study a wide range of techniques, each capable of producing very different results and styles from the same materials. Beyond traditional quilts, she has expanded her work to bags, vests, textile bowls, cushions, partitioned jewellery cases, Christmas decorations, and other useful and decorative objects for the home and for personal wear.

She has taught courses for beginners and authored an instructional handbook. She has organised solo exhibitions and taken part in group quilt shows. She has entered international competitions — in Texas, Idaho, Belgium, and Ireland — as well as Italian ones, winning prizes along the way.

"Fabric is my way of telling stories — every stitch is a word."