Natalia Sanchez is a creator and connector whose practice explores the relationship between craft, culture, and contemporary design. Through material research, color exploration, and textile processes, she investigates how handmade objects preserve cultural knowledge while creating meaningful connections between people, place, and time.
Raised between the United States and Mexico, Natalia earned her BFA in Fibers from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2024. Her practice has been shaped by both formal design training and immersive experiences with artisan communities, including a textile residency at TEXERE in Oaxaca and work alongside designer Angela Damman, collaborating directly with Maya craftspeople in Yucatán. She continues to foster cross-cultural dialogue through workshops and collaborations that support the exchange of craft knowledge between Mexico and the United States.
Natalia is the recipient of the 2024 Wingate-Lamar Fellowship from the Center for Craft and has received recognition from the Surface Design Association, Cotton Incorporated, and the International Design Awards. Based in Los Angeles, she works as a Textile Specialist at the Pacific Design Center, building relationships across the international design community while continuing to evolve her studio practice through weaving, anthropology, material innovation, and cultural exchange.
about
I've been a maker for as long as I can remember. Growing up in South Florida as a first generation Mexican American, art became the way I processed the world, a second language shaped by observation, analyzation, and creation. Seasons spent visiting family in Mexico immersed me in color, texture, and artisan communities, grounding my belief that craft can be both functional and culturally embedded in daily life.
As an emerging textile artist and designer I am driven by a desire to create connections, developing work that tells stories through color and material exploration. My studio practice is rooted in the tactile experience of textiles and culture, combining skills like natural dyeing and weaving with research and critical thinking, exploring the relationships between these themes as a whole.
Textiles serve not only as art objects with cultural significance, but as functional pieces woven into daily life. Contributing at the intersection of art and the global design industry has reinforced my commitment to my craft with a solid belief that it can act as an educational tool to counter capitalist norms in our culture, centered around skill in action and embracing integrity.
artist statement
awards + recognition
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