Steph Assez

About

Steph Assez is a Southeast London-based collage artist and embroiderer who transforms vintage and found materials into playful, surreal artworks. Working by hand, her practice explores storytelling, nostalgia and feminist themes through collage, stitch and reclaimed objects.

Statement

My practice centres on the transformation of vintage and found materials through collage and embroidery. Working almost entirely by hand, I use archival photographs, paper ephemera, reclaimed objects and thread to create artworks that explore storytelling, memory and the quiet narratives embedded within everyday things. I'm fascinated by the lives that objects have lived before they reach me. A discarded magazine, a faded photograph or a well-worn matchbox already carries its own history, and by cutting, layering or stitching into these materials, I'm able to create new stories that sit somewhere between nostalgia and imagination. Rather than preserving the past unchanged, I'm interested in entering into a conversation with it. Humour and surrealism often find their way into my work, but beneath the playful surface are recurring themes of identity, feminism and cultural memory. I frequently reimagine vintage imagery, particularly depictions of women, giving familiar characters new agency, new voices and unexpected futures. More recently, embroidery has become an important extension of this process. Stitching directly onto vintage photographs and found objects allows me to quite literally connect past and present, while reclaiming a craft historically associated with domestic labour as a contemporary artistic language. Thread becomes both a means of repair and a form of intervention, altering inherited narratives one stitch at a time. Sustainability is fundamental to my practice. I work almost exclusively with vintage, found and recycled materials, believing that overlooked objects still have stories worth telling. Every fragment of paper, every photograph and every piece of thread becomes part of a wider process of renewal, where forgotten materials are given a second life through careful craftsmanship and imagination. Ultimately, I hope my work invites viewers to pause, look closer and discover something unexpected. Whether through a surreal collage or an intricately embroidered object, I'm interested in creating pieces that spark curiosity, evoke emotion and remind us that even the smallest, most ordinary things can contain extraordinary stories.

Commissions

I welcome commissions ranging from bespoke artworks and meaningful personal pieces to album artwork, editorial projects and collaborations with brands and creative organisations. Every commission is approached with the same commitment to storytelling, craftsmanship and creating something entirely unique.