Reading AI-generated Cross-Stitch Patterns

Can you ‘read’ AI generated images of historic craft patterns?

This project is critique of general purpose AI models built from large scale datasets. It closely investigates AI generated images of cross-stitch patterns and makes an attempt to ‘read’ these images with the help of theoretical/philosophical constructs and historical embroidery archives.

I’ve written up the project for Formy.xyz, an online design magazined published by the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland.

My exploration led to learning about a Ukrainian handicraft, ‘Pysanky’, which incorporates stylized lettering (Cyrillic alphabet) and symbols in pixel art-like form, which I decided to try out for myself in paper, embroidery, and 3D printing.