Stephen Burks Man Made Joins Forces With Gee's Bend Quilters

In spring 2025, industrial design studio Stephen Burks Man Made participated in a week-long workshop with local Gee’s Bend quiltmakers, coordinated by Sew Gee’s Bend Heritage Builders, culminating in 10 large-scale contemporary pieces using fabrics donated by Italian fabric house donated by Dedar. These pieces emerged from a dialogue between memory and material, weaving together ancestral techniques and contemporary visions.

The resulting works debuted in the United States Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, as part of the broader exhibition PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity. The exhibition considered the transformative potential of the porch through a collection of handcrafted objects and furniture, amplifying it as a site of creativity, diversity and liberation.

Quilting (2025) is a short film directed by Stephen Burks Man Made documenting their collaboration with Sew Gee’s Bend Heritage Builders and Dedar.