Currently Coveting: Studio Augustin’s Pillows and Poufs Made from Vintage Portuguese Grain Sacks

Your great grandmother kept a mending pile and a rag bag. Everybody did. Back in the day, textiles were used and reused—precious materials and handwork went into their making.


During the Depression, American flour companies printed dress patterns onto their cotton packaging as a bonus next step. And French striped linen grain sacks got repurposed as dish towels, café curtains, and cushions.


The brighter, heavier cereal bags of northeastern Portugal were reused as rugs and blankets, among other things. Fashion designer Annelie Augustin came across these little-known relics at a flea market in Ponte da Lima, Portugal, and was so moved  by their beauty and variety, and by the care that went into their making, that she launched the Studio Augustin line of pillows and poufs made of the weavings.


A German fashion designer who trained in Paris and now lives in Porto and Berlin, Annelie is a proponent of circular design and of keeping craftsmanship alive. “Every piece created should be a piece of peace,” she says.


Photography by Joe Hunt, courtesy of Studio Augustin.
Above: “The bags come from a specific, isolated region near the Spanish border. You can’t find them all over Portugal,” Annelie tells us. “The area is not very frequented by tourists, which might be one of the reasons the bags have lasted so long—the next generation was not so interested and they got lost in cellars. Now, they’ve become collectibles.”


Compelled to “save them before they’re gone,” Annelie embarked on a treasure hunt to collect as many of the sacks as she could.
Above: A sampling of Studio Augustin pillows and a pouf in Miranda do Douro, one of the villages where the linen and wool mix was spun, dyed, woven, and hand-stitched into sacks for decades. Some of Annelie’s finds are a century old; the most recent date from the 1970s. Annelie employs a team of local women artisans to make her designs from patched-together grain bags, no two exactly alike.
Above: In Miranda do Douro, Annelie met Miranda, who, like many women in the region, used to spend winters weaving the grain sacks.
Above: The cushions come in three shapes and a range of sizes (though each sack is one of a kind, the studio can create multiple pillows in a similar pattern on request).  The 50-by-50 centimeter square shown here, the Vintage Handwoven Cushion #021/2,  is €164.

Studio Augustin’s signature big cushions come in a range of colors and patterns and proudly display vintage mendings. They can be used as sofas, beds, and as floor pillows. Above: L: Vintage Handwoven Cushion #003. Above R: Vintage Handwoven Cushion #018.


They’re €210 for the covers and are offered with a choice of two fillings, eco-friendly cork granules, €75, or a cotton-like synthetic fiber, €35.


Some of the sacks have original embroideries. Above L: Vintage Handwoven Cushion #016. Above R: Vintage Handwoven Cushion #001.
Above: Round Poufs are €325, and Squared Poufs are €395. Each is one of a kind and comes filled with granules of cork from southern Portugal.
Above: Studio Augustin sells its wares directly and through a small group of shops around the world. US stockists include Remodelista favorites The Primary Essentials in Brooklyn, Pidgin in Upstate NY, and Atomic Garden in Oakland, CA.


More of our favorite pillows and cushions:



* 7 Favorites: Soft, Stylish Throwbeds

* Christina Lundsteen’s Velvet Pillows: “Mixing Colors and Patterns Like Nobody’s Watching”

* Shaggy Cushions to Have and to Hold | bit.ly/3XLoEJb


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