1001 miracle blankets

photo: Heike Mardo

UNIQUE INTERIOR DESIGN COLLECTION PERSONALIZED & CURATED CUDDLY COUTURE INDIVIDUAL ADVICE AND FABRIC SELECTION IN PAULINA’S SERENDIPITY WORKSHOP, BERLIN-MITTE

1001 MIRACLE BLANKETS CONNECT PEOPLE WORLDWIDE WHO BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF WISHES AND WONDER FULFILLMENT, IN MAGIC AND LIMITLESS FANTASY/CREATIVITY.

Each wish blanket represents a heart’s desire (a miracle) and is numbered. You can make a wish that WILL come true on the remote control of the number 1001 (or hopefully sooner). The story of the miracle blankets / tapestries is inspired by the flying carpet in the fairy tales of 1001 Nights. The mythical carpet (the blanket of wishes) symbolizes the magical, mysterious, miraculous power to teleport to a desired location at lightning speed, the overcoming of space and time. 1001 miracle blankets “fly” around the world. 1001 miracle blankets connect people and fabrics worldwide. The wish blanket collects supposedly random memories and traces, stands for a comfortable home, for home, arrival, refuge, protection, security and a divine foundation. The magnificent weavings (threads) of the rare fabric patterns represent wealth and abundance.

The concept is very simple, the implementation is all the more complicated. I upcycle the “luxury waste” of the textile industry – textile patterns and leftovers (deadstock) transformed in unique patchwork pieces, handmade in my studio in Berlin-Mitte. Not only the end product, but also the fabric leftovers themselves are unique and can no longer be found. Pure slow fashion in the literal sense as a counter-concept to wasteful fast fashion – a double-sided blanket, for example, is about 3 days work. All themes, styles, color combinations, etc. are possible and welcome. The main thing is that it’s a very personal gem, specially made for you and your premises. Each unique customized piece is lovingly documented and immortalized in photographs – see some examples below.

I have searched and collected these hand-picked fabric leftovers from all over the world. I also get many from selected textile dealers in Italy, France, Holland and Spain. The fabrics are randomly put together in a playful way, so that a blanket becomes an exciting puzzle, a kind of labyrinth. They are memorabilia that carry a story. An explosion of positive life force.

How did this crazy idea and its crazy success come about?

It was a personal, painful journey. The background was the loss of my beloved grandmother. She belonged to the war generation and, like in many poorer countries around the world, sewed patchwork quilts from useless scraps of fabric. In the tradition of the Japanese technique Boro Sashiko. At some point in the past few years, grandma had given me two of these magical patchwork quilts – I used them as curtains for my dressing rooms at the Bikini Berlin store. A few customers approached me and wanted to buy them, but somehow I hesitated back then.

Well, after my Grandma passed away and I had to go through another painful, devastating breakup, I cried in despair and asked for help when I didn’t know how to pay my rent. A very good friend ordered the first throw blanket from me to help me. So he gave me a great gift: he gave me the feeling that what I create has aesthetic memorabilia because the blanket reminded him of his childhood. After that it ran like clockwork, and I hardly did any marketing. All just word of mouth and recommendations. It feels like I’m getting a heavenly nod from Grandma, or as my Indonesian friend, the renowned artist Heri Dono once claimed, “Paulina, please always remember an angel”…

Grandma had a pension of 100 € and always asked me: “If you have enough, should I give you something”… She was creative in times of need, just like I did at the beginning. Even luxury couture, beauty and grace can arise from necessity. As is well known, drawing from the full is not art….

Additionally, in one of my distinctive dreams, the patron saint of the Canary Islands, the Virgen de Candelaria (Nuestra Señora de Candelaria), appeared. She took off her magnificent brocade coat and covered me with it. It was an unforgettable caring protective gesture of grace. This was sort of a foreshadowing of the story with the miracle blankets.

Miracle blankets as a life project?

It may sound megalomaniac, but: in the future the construction of a sacred, pantheistic chapel with an icon altar is planned, where more and more miracle blanket wishes will be attached/documented in paper form by the owners of the miracle blankets. At this special place of pilgrimage, powers of blessing and healing will be activated.