2026 Veneer wood (birch, maple burl), textile

Designer Elisa Strozyk challenges conventional understandings of materiality through her innovative use of “wooden textiles,” transforming rigid wood veneer into flexible forms that move between two and three dimensions and blur the boundaries between object, image, and sculpture.

For Resilient Topographies, Strozyk brings together two perspectives on Earth’s interconnected systems: the planetary view from space and the intimate structures found within a single piece of wood. The hanging work combines a topographic image of the Himalayas from NASA with Strozyk’s signature wooden mosaic technique, while its reverse reveals the intricate patterns of natural burl wood. A sculptural work below echoes the contours of the Earth’s surface.

Through these connected views, Strozyk reveals resilience as a fundamental quality of living systems. Burl wood, shaped by stress and adaptation, demonstrates how complexity and beauty can emerge through transformation. The work invites us to recognize the lessons of resilience and creativity already present in nature—and to consider how we might embrace these qualities in our own relationship with the planet and with one another.

elisastrozyk.com