PICA BIOTA is a knitwear design studio born in Lisbon, sparked by the collaboration between Catarina Pica and (a) Brother KH930 machine. The work grows from the tension between manual and mechanical.
THE FRAMEWORK
Knitting as a method of thinking through collaboration, tension, repetition and rhythm. Making happens in conversation with the tools and the materials, not in command of them.
THE MAKERS
Catarina completed a Master’s degree at the Swedish School of Textiles in 2024, after earning a Bachelor's degree in Painting from the Faculdade de Belas-Artes do Porto in 2020.
This Brother KH930 machine was born in 1986. After the brand’s collapse, it remained in Porto under the care of Sr. Joaquim, guardian of Brother’s surviving machinery in Portuguese territory. She was brought back to life in late 2024 by Sr. Joaquim and handed over to Catarina, with whom she has been living ever since.
The materials used are sourced through a combination of deadstock cotton yarns, second-hand yarn purchased through online platforms in Europe, yarn sourced from small shops around Lisbon, and yarn passed on by family and friends. Any yarn purchased first-hand is always made from natural fibers. This sourcing process reflects PICA BIOTA’s interest in continuity, reuse and material permanence, working with what already exists rather than producing unnecessary excess.
THE GARMENTS
The garments are intimate objects that evolve through wear and repetition.
Rather than existing as fixed products, the pieces adapt to the body and accumulate traces of time and use.
PICA BIOTA rejects obsolescence as a motor of desire, valuing permanence, relation and emotional longevity instead.
