The network for creativity
Join 1.25M professional creatives like you
Connect with clients, get discovered, and run your business 100% commission-free
Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started
Back to feedPost
What if the unicorn had been woven by the women who were kept behind the same fence ?
I rewove The Met's Unicorn Tapestry as a Tunisian Amazigh kilim. Same pose, same collar, same loose chain but every flower in that field is now a protection symbol
The museum piece: The Unicorn Rests in a Garden, also known as The Unicorn in Captivity, from the Unicorn Tapestries. Woven 1495–1505 in wool, silk, silver and gilt thread. Cartoon made in Paris, woven in the Southern Netherlands. The Met Cloisters, 37.80.6.
A white unicorn sits...
The network for creativity
Join 1.25M professional creatives like you
Connect with clients, get discovered, and run your business 100% commission-free
Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started
Related posts
The New Book of Beasts
A Medieval Bestiary of Modern Human Nature
What if medieval bestiaries described the habits of modern people instead of mythical creatures?
For the Recraft × Contra Styles Challenge, I created Illuminated Bestiary, a custom Recraft Style inspired by public-domain illustrations from 13th–15th-century manuscripts.
I used historical references from the Public Domain Image Archive to explore medieval animal anatomy, ornamental details, ink drawings, and muted natural pigments.
Then I applied the style to eight imaginary beasts, each representing a familiar modern behavior: overthinking, people-pleasing, doomscrolling, procrastination, ghosting, perfectionism, attention-seeking, and impostor syndrome.
The result is a collection of creatures that look like they belong in a centuries-old manuscript, even though their habits are very much our own.
Such a creative idea! Love how you’ve connected medieval art with modern human habits. The concept is both unique and relatable! 👏✨
Archive gems are the best! Love that you still love it after all this time - that's when you know it's timeless work. 👀
200 years ago, local artists painted the everyday people of the subcontinent: barbers, porters, chai wallas, knife sharpeners. Each one got a portrait, flat colours, a fancy border, total respect.
So I asked: what if those same painters time travelled to Lahore today?
I found their work in the Wellcome Collection’s public domain archive, trained a Recraft Style on it, and sent it to paint the new pesha of my city.
Same old painter, new Lahore. 😄
Love this. Giving chai wallas and porters that old portrait treatment again feels really respectful. The borders are beautiful.