Disfairy | Deer

18cm wide x 8cm high

Each piece is hand-built from a variety of materials including mohair-style plush, velvet, soft cotton calico, muslin and linen, then aged by hand with tea and coffee staining and painted shading. Details are worked in visible hand-stitching, embroidery and raised paint. They're finished with glass-vial and silver charms, jute twine and each comes with its own handwritten tag.

Ilaria Vestri, who works under the name Disfairy, is a textile artist and sculptor living on the Tuscan coast near Livorno. Her name joins her family's initials with her love of fairytales, and her work grew from a childhood spent watching her late father, a self-taught artisan, carve stone, model clay and paint. After years restoring frescoes and woodwork, she began making her own creatures: owls, hares, deer, swans, birds and small dogs, each poised somewhere between whimsical and a little uncanny.

Every piece is one of a kind. Ilaria sews, embroiders, paints and sculpts in clay, building each creature from vintage fabrics, old trims and small antique finds gathered from Italian flea markets and second-hand shops. She works surrounded by greenery and the sound of water, her tools kept in baskets handed down from her grandmother and aunt. Her work is collected internationally and shown by Cactus Gallery in Los Angeles, and we're delighted to bring a small selection of her creatures to Eva's Sunday.