Francesca Colussi Cramer is a textile artist and designer based in North Wales, UK, who transforms memory into matter. Working mainly with found photographs and vintage postcards, she re-contextualizes these materials through a playful, tactile, three-dimensional lens. Her practice navigates the intersections of art, design, and craft - mediums often culturally coded as feminine - engaging in a quiet but powerful dialogue between a ‘given’ past and a potential present.
She studied literature and women’s history in Italy before completing a degree in textile design in the UK. This dual foundation informs her work, where narrative depth meets visual clarity. Through thread and texture, she overlays personal and collective histories - often obscuring faces or sections of the artwork to provoke reinterpretation. Titles such as The Things We Lose and the Promises We Break or An Elusive Truth, echo the emotional weight and ambiguity embedded in her work. These are not just pieces to be viewed, but felt - delicate, direct, and meaningful.
Colussi Cramer’s design work has been acquired by fashion and interior brands including Boden, Etro, Furla (Talent Hub 2012), Ganni, IKEA, J. Crew, Nike, Toast, Uniqlo, and Vanessa Bruno.
Her artworks are held in private collections worldwide, and her exhibitions include New Designers (London), Première Vision (Paris), and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions (2018, 2019, 2021), including the 250th anniversary show curated by Grayson Perry. In 2021, her work was featured in Wish You Were Here: 151 Years of the British Postcard at the Postal Museum in London.
Her recent press and commissions include collaborations with The Paris Review, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Flow Magazine, The Observer’s New Review, and Brigitte Magazine.
Exhibitions
2025 The Art of Paper, Oriel Môn, Llangefni
2023 Wish You Were Here…?, curated by Tag Fine Arts, Gallery 46, London
2022 A Generous Space 2, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall
2021 RA Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
2021 I Didn’t Lick It, group collage exhibition by Bruton Correspondence School, Bruton Museum, Bruton
2021 Wish You Were Here: 151 Years of the British Postcard, Postal Museum, London
2019 RA Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
2018 RA Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
2018 Into the Sea / I'r Môr, Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno
Artistic Commissions
FLOW Magazine (Germany), n.80 2024
Brigitte Magazine (Germany), n.17 2023
Harper's Bazaar, May 2023
Vogue (Portugal), No Comments Issue, n.226 2021
Brigitte Wir (Germany) n.6 2020
FLOW (Netherlands), n.5 2020
The Paris Review (USA) n.233 Summer 2020
FLOW (Netherlands) n.3 2019
Brigitte Magazine (Germany), n.14 2019
Press and publication features
FLOW Magazine (Netherlands), n.3 2022
Toast magazine, 2021
How To Spend it, FT, 2021
East Journal, 2020
Colossal, 2019
FLOW Magazine (France) n.32 2019
The Observer (UK), February 2019
The Jealous Curator, 2018