TEXTILE AWARDS 2025

On February 19, 2026, a jury composed of representatives from various creative fields gathered at the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design to select the laureates of the annual awards of the Estonian Textile Artists Association.

Recognitions were awarded in three categories: Textile Artist of the Year, Young Textile Artist of the Year, and Textile Act of the Year. In addition, the jury decided to present a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ingrid Helena Pajo (b. 1996) received the award for her meaningful and consistent creative practice in 2025, in which textile expands into an installation-based and spatial art practice.

Her work in 2025 focused on natural and found materials, as well as plant-based pigments. In her works, Pajo explored the temporality of materials, their transformation, and their relationship to place, memory, and human experience.

In 2025, Ingrid Helena Pajo stood out through her active participation in exhibitions. Her solo exhibition “Liblika lend on meander” (“The Flight of a Butterfly is a Meander”) at Keskpuur reflected on the form and delicacy of butterflies, while also expressing the artist’s attempt to come to terms with transience.

In the duo exhibition “The Day the Line Bent into a Spiral” at EKA Gallery, created in collaboration with Eugenio Marini, she explored original textile technologies through collecting and weaving, seeking to interpret the experience of human life.

In the same year, Ingrid Helena Pajo also participated in six group exhibitions: “Soolaveest läbi hingates” at the Nachtsicht Festival (Stuttgart, Germany); “Piirideta aineväljadel” at the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design; “Cocoon” at the Estonian Maritime Museum; “Ruderal 1” at Forest Hill (London, United Kingdom); “Encrypt” at the SODAS 2123 project space (Vilnius, Lithuania); and the Spring Auction at the VAAL Gallery.

The jury found that her contemporary use of traditional techniques deserves recognition, as it demonstrates a deeply considered approach to her artistic practice. They were particularly impressed by the emphasis on process and experimentation in Ingrid Helena Pajo’s work.

Young Textile Artist of the Year 2025 is Kassandra Laur (b. 2001), a young artist who graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts and was awarded the Mari Adamson Prize for Best Textile Student in 2025.

In 2025, she represented the Estonian Academy of Arts at the international young textile art exhibition, the Young Textile Art Triennial, held at the Łódź City Art Gallery.

In her work, traditional craft techniques intertwine with drawing and graphic expression, informed by her studies in textile design at the Estonian Academy of Arts and the LUCA School of Arts. Her bachelor’s project, “Looritatus” (Veiled), is an installation combining various techniques and materials, where the concept of the “veil” conceals multiple layers of meaning.

During the creative process, the artist spent considerable time searching for ways to create delicate, semi-transparent textiles. Material played a central role in this process, as each fiber carried its own story, and only through experimentation could it be determined whether the material was capable of conveying the intended narrative.

The annual awards jury found that the artist presented a coherent and professionally realized body of work in 2025.









The tapestry as a medium for storytelling and recording events is not without precedent. The most famous historical example is the Bayeux Tapestry, created in the 11th–12th centuries, on whose 70-meter-long fabric scenes depicting the Norman conquest of England are embroidered.

The idea to mark the 500-year history of the Estonian book with a tapestry, one in whose creation people across Estonia could participate, was proposed by Mart Jagomägi. At the suggestion of Krista Aru, the Textile Department of Pallas University of Applied Sciences was involved in the realization of the idea. Students designed a dense sequence of images based on key moments in the history of the Estonian book (supervisors: Marju Roos and Aet Ollisaar).

The aim was to create an inclusive art project that would also introduce the history of the Estonian book to a wide audience. The idea of embroidering the tapestry proved highly engaging: over the course of a year, thousands of people have contributed. The youngest known participant was two years old, and the oldest 104. The tapestry has traveled nearly 3,000 kilometers.

The popularity of the project led to the production of a second printed version of the tapestry, divided into sections and sent to Estonian communities abroad. The embroidery process was organized in cooperation with the Estonian Folk Art and Craft Union.

The Estonian Book Year tapestry has proven to be a truly successful initiative, distinguished by its wide-reaching impact and the involvement of a large number of participants throughout 2025.

Mart Jagomägi: “There have been thousands of embroiderers in total. At one point, I counted a few counties and estimated that there would be around 5,000 participants. Unfortunately, not everyone wrote their name in the logbook, but some statistics will still be available. The youngest embroiderer so far has been 2 years old and the oldest 104. The tapestry has traveled nearly 3,000 kilometers. I have only fragmentary information about the version for Estonians abroad — it was divided into five parts. Just as I was writing this, I received a call from Germany asking for some instructions and expressing gratitude for being able to take part in such a wonderful initiative.”

The jury found that this project is one of the most outstanding events of the Estonian Book Year, highlighting its strong community involvement, its role in popularizing textile art, and its lasting museum value as an object that will continue to be exhibited in the future.

Ehalill Halliste

Ehalill Halliste is a well-known and highly regarded tapestry artist who has consistently contributed to the development and practice of this field. For over 50 years, she has enriched Estonian textile art with her distinctive, sensitive, and lyrical artistic language through gobelins and woven rugs, and has also created numerous church textiles. Her work is sincere, rich in imagery and detail, and masterful in execution.

Through her life-affirming and vibrant gobelins, Ehalill Halliste has made a significant contribution to the development of Estonian tapestry art. Her tapestry “Väravad” (“Gates”) is also featured in the overview exhibition “A Beautiful Time”, and she has consistently participated in the annual exhibitions of the Estonian Textile Artists Association.

Her large-scale tapestry series “Pae peal” (“On Limestone”) and “Tanu all” (“Under the Bridal Headdress”) demonstrate her in-depth exploration of a single theme and its variations, continuously discovering new dimensions to express in her work. These series have been exhibited in various venues and have received notable attention from audiences.

Ehalill Halliste was born on 2 October 1948. She studied textile art at the Estonian State Art Institute from 1971 to 1976. From 1978 to 1994, she worked as an artist at the ARS Art Combine, and from 1994 to 2002 as an art teacher at Kohila Gymnasium. Since 1994, she has been a freelance artist.

She has been a member of the Estonian Artists Association since 1981 and of the Estonian Textile Artists Association since 1997. In 2015, she was awarded the Order of the White Star, 5th Class.