From real stories to SPOKEN PORTRAITS 

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Spoken Portraits is a creative journey where personal stories become visual and embroidered portraits. Over six months Jul-Dec 2025, we explored what it means to live in Tilburg, its diversity, multiculturalism, and the identities shaped through everyday interactions.

 

This journey unfolds in three phases:

 

(Re) Connection

We started by listening. Tilburg is a city full of stories that deserve to be told. 

 

We met four Tilburg citizens, Patrycja, Lane, Rodrigo and Maria. After a  conversation with each of them ceparetaly, Laura (Our storyteller) got to know more about them and their personal journey and had the information, the feelings and the ideas to write their stories down, a narrative of their experience in life and  in Tilburg.

 

The stories were ready to connect with Miguel (our visual artist), he interpreted those written stories and he transformed them into  paintings, four SPOKEN PORTRAITS crafted in Miguel's own style ready to continue their journey.

 

The Craft Tellers' Rooms (CTR)

The CTRs are pop-up living rooms, to connect, share, reflect and tell stories while we craft a hand-made project together.

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During the CTR: Spoken Portraits, we partnered up with four different places in the city, Loc brewery, Books and Beans, Boove and Benee, and Holla Polla. The meetings were designed for a group of around 20 people, to reflect and share about personal experiences in Tilburg and the Netherlands. 

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The Spoken Portraits created by Miguel were transfer to fabric in A4 format and small pieces of fabric had drawings with parts of the body. Each meeting had a topic and we focused on co-create one of the portraits while every participant work in their own small project.

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For two months (Oct-Nov) we hosted  four casual meetings to embroider, have a beer/coffee and talk about real life, in real life! During two hours each room was full of strangers that slowly were getting to know each other, sharing their experiences and thoughts.

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Topics of the Rooms:

Room One Loc Brewery: Time. Portrait: Lane. Triggering Question: How do we experience time?

Room Two Boove and Benee: Senses. Portrait: Patrycja. Triggering Question: How do we smell, taste, and feel the place we inhabit?

Room Three Books and Beans: People. Portrait: Rodrigo. Triggering Question: How do we make friends as foreigners, as adults, as introverts/extroverts...?

Room Four Holla Polla: Changes. Portrait: Maria. Triggering Question: What choices brought us to who we are today?

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Follow this link to get a better impression of the Craft Tellers' Rooms: Spoken Portraits.

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The Window: 

 

The 06th of December 2025 The Window was opened at the international Center Tilburg. Right in the heart of the city people gathered to share the process of Spoken Portraits. An exhibition with the photos of Lane, Maria, Rodrigo and Patrycja, the paintings that Miguel created and the embroideries that were co-created in the CTRs.

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The Window hosted more than 60 people from 13:00 to 17:00 and became a big embroidery room. The visitors  continued to contribute to the Embroidery portraits while connecting with each other and resonating with the stories of the Spoken Portraits. 

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At 14:30 a panel of dialogue about belonging started. Moderated by Judith van den Berg with the participation of Daniel Obubo, Sure Koşulgan and Claire Adams, the conversation opened a space to reflect about how through our own experiences we can impact on the role we play in the places we inhabit.​

 

We had a blast during the event! If you want to get a glimpse of The Window follow the link here. 

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What Next?

Spoken Portraits aims to be a never endindg process. The four stories we shared and crafted together during 2025 are conserved in a printed and digital magazine you can read here. We would like to keep sharing them and open more Windows in the city. If you have a space or know about a space that can host a new Window, don't hesitate to get in touch.

 

Right now, the embroidered Spoken Portraits 2025 are exhibited at Books and Beans, it is possible to visit and keep working on them, we would like more and more hands involved in the embroidery process. 

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The Spoken Portraits in 2025 was financially supported by Gemeente Tilburg. We believe that the concept can become part of Tilburg citizens, we are currently connecting and calling potential sponsors and supporters to create a new edition of the project and keep sharing stories through craft and meaningful encounters. 

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Please connect with Craft Telling if you see a potencial partership or sponsorship possibility and/or if you have questions or ideas to keep Spoken Portraits alive.