Sewing Café becomes Creative Café “Threads of Life”

Photo: Peter Zuber (2024)

Four years ago, a group of women from Ukraine gathered under the welcoming roof of Kultur Aktiv to come to terms together with the shock of war: the severed ties, the destroyed and abandoned homes, the loss of familiar surroundings and their homeland. We began sewing pictures from scraps of textiles that reminded each of us, in our own way, of home.

But each new meeting not only brought back old memories, but also forged new connections. Over the past four years, many people have sat at our table, and each of them has brought their own unique story with them. Some still come today. Others have since found work or a training place and can no longer attend as regularly. Some stay for a long time, others only for a while. But every person who has sat at our table has left a mark on our hearts and, in their own way, has become part of this new community.

At first, we called the whole thing a ‘sewing café’. But actually, these days we don’t just sew anymore. It’s a place where life journeys, stories and ideas come together, intertwine and ultimately find expression in all sorts of different forms of creativity. We can sew or felt with wool, paint or make figures, write, weave or experiment with other techniques. Yet all of that is merely the form. What really matters is the connection between people.

That is why the name is changing too. We are no longer simply stitching together the individual patches of our lives. Together, we are weaving a new pattern from the threads of our lives.

And just as different threads, colours and shades come together in weaving, so too are the people who visit our café important to us – with their different stories, experiences, ideas and skills. Everyone brings their own thread. Some threads remain in the fabric for a long time, whilst others touch it only for a while. But every single thread can contribute something to the shared pattern.

Creative Café ‘Threads of Life’

At the same time, we do not wish to limit ourselves to any particular creative technique. The form is free to change and to emerge spontaneously from our imagination, our curiosity and our joy in creating together. The Café is and remains an open space for connection, where people come together to create, share stories, laugh, learn from one another and perhaps leave their everyday lives behind for a while.

Everyone is welcome: women and men, people with and without creative experience, old friends and new faces. Anyone who wants can bring their own materials or a current project. Some materials are available on site.

Perhaps that is why the Creative Café ‘Threads of Life’ is such a good fit: the word ‘café’ connects us with what has developed over the years, whilst ‘Threads of Life’ describes what has come of it.

We don’t just weave with fabrics, wool or other materials. We weave encounters. We weave stories. We weave new connections. And from many different threads, something emerges that no one could have created on their own.

Come along, join in and bring your own thread to the Creative Café ‘Threads of Life’!

Participation is free of charge.

Photo: Peter Zuber (2024)