PICA BIOTA is a knitwear design studio born in Lisbon, sparked by the collaboration between Catarina Pica and (a) Brother KH930. It explores knitwear as a system of relations, between hand and machine, body and garment, skin and thread. 

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THE FRAMEWORK

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Knitting as a method of thinking through collaboration, tension, repetition and rhythm. Making happens in conversation with materials, not in command of them. Most pieces are made from deadstock or second hand yarn or natural fibers, with ecological responsability in mind.

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The knit hoops act as vertebrae, as structure.

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The garments are treated semi-living artefacts. ​They are completed by the wearer, as garments change through use and time. Each piece enters the world unfinished, to be shaped by wearing, washing, stretching.

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The first collection will be called PIKAIA, after the first known vertebrate. It builds the spine of the project.

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THE MAKERS

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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.

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This Brother KH930 was born in 1986. After the brand’s collapse, it remained in Porto under the care of Senhor Joaquim, guardian of Brother’s surviving machinery in Portuguese territory. It was brought back to life in late 2024 by Sr. Joaquim and handed over to Catarina, with whom she has been living with ever since. 

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