From Architecture to Art: Natalie Fisher on the World of Islamic Ornament
When I was researching the blue architecture of Samarkand, I came across the work of Natalie Fisher, a needlepoint artist based in Sydney, Australia.
Natalie creates needlepoint works inspired by decorative Islamic tiles and architecture. Her sources of inspiration include places such as Morocco, Uzbekistan, the UAE, Türkiye and India.
She translates tiles and patterns found in architecture into another medium through thread.
What does she notice, and what does she choose to preserve?
And when she translates decorative traditions rooted in different cultures into her own art, how does she maintain respect for their cultural context?
I asked Natalie about these questions by email.
[In the studio]
It all began with Moroccan zellige
Natalie’s strong attraction to Islamic architecture and decoration began with her first visit to Morocco.
It was there that she encountered decorative tiles known as zellige.
She saw them on walls, floors and tabletops, in significant public buildings such as mosques and madrasas, as well as in domestic spaces.
Natalie reflects on that time by saying:
“I just wanted to take them all home! I wanted to look at them, study them, live with them.”
Her initial motivation seems to have been a powerful curiosity—a desire to see more and know more about the colours and patterns right before her eyes.
From this encounter in Morocco, Natalie’s interest expanded to architecture and ornament from many other places.
Different lands, different colours and patterns
One thing Natalie finds fascinating is the regional variation in decorative tile work.
To her eyes, Moroccan tile work appears highly geometric, combining straight lines, squares, and triangles.
In Uzbekistan, by contrast, she recalls being struck by more fluid patterns reminiscent of plants, gardens, and flowers, alongside blues and turquoises.
Natalie also points out that Persian/Iranian architectural and decorative traditions have had a significant influence on Uzbek architecture and ornament.
In Türkiye, she points to Iznik tiles, often floral in design, with accents of red, turquoise and white.
These are differences Natalie has noticed through her own encounters with architecture and ornament.
From a distance, it may all appear to belong to a single category of “Islamic decoration.” Up close, however, the colours, patterns and forms of expression vary from place to place.
Discovering these differences seems to be part of what fascinates her most.
An unforgettable place: Shah-i-Zinda
One place in particular has stayed with Natalie: the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Tiles of turquoise, blue, green, and white. And the colour of the bricks visible between them.
She describes walking through the site as “a truly mesmerising experience.”
Shah-i-Zinda has influenced many of her needlepoint pieces.
[Shah-i-Zinda]
For me, as someone who was researching Samarkand, it was very interesting to learn that this place holds such a special position in Natalie’s creative process.
When looking at the same building, some see it as "blue architecture," while others look at a single tile.
Some see the connections between patterns, while others focus on the boundaries between tiles and brickwork.
So, what does Natalie see when she looks at architecture?
What does Natalie look for in architecture?
Natalie says she first looks at the overall pattern of the facade.
Is there a decorative border tying everything together?
Does the design seem intended to continue infinitely?
Is there a centre point?
She then looks more closely at the individual tiles — and even at the mortar holding them together, which she finds fascinating.
When she finds a design she may want to stitch, she will almost always take a good photograph.
Upon returning to her studio, she enlarges those photos and begins cropping them.
Does she leave in many fine details?
Or does she focus on one strong motif?
Rather than reproducing the entire building on a small scale, she selects specific parts to turn into art.
This is more than simply copying a pattern.
First, she observes the architecture closely, tries to understand how the pattern is structured, and chooses what to preserve.
Natalie’s creative process begins with that observation and selection.
[Shah-i-Zinda decoration in the background, with a needlepoint work inspired by it in the foreground.]
What she preserves, and what changes through hand stitching
Natalie is cautious about intentionally changing the original designs that inspire her work.
“I try to translate the design in a way that is true to the original. I rarely intentionally change a design, because there is no need to.”
One of her aims, she explains, is to acknowledge the design itself and to pay respect to the building on which she sees it.
At the same time, translating architectural decoration into needlepoint does not mean creating an exact copy.
Hard ceramic tiles become soft, tactile thread.
Natalie works from her own photographs, enlarging the designs and drawing the outlines of the main motifs onto the canvas. From there, she stitches the patterns in a freestyle manner rather than working from a chart.
As the material changes, so does the texture. And because the work is stitched by hand, subtle variations naturally emerge.
She does not set out to change the original design. But when it is translated into another material, some change naturally occurs.
Respecting the original design and creating something with her own hands.
Natalie’s work exists in the space between the two.
For her, staying as true to the original as possible is also a way of honouring its cultural context. As she puts it:
“The cultural context is honoured by trying to be as true to the original as possible, when stitching. This is why I don’t intentionally change aspects of the design.”
Living with the architecture
Needlepoint is a time-consuming form of expression.
Some of Natalie’s works take weeks or even months to complete.
When I asked her about that time, she shared a memorable sentiment.
“In a way, I’m living with the architecture for a long time.”
She spends weeks with the same pattern, stitching it one stitch at a time.
In doing so, she says she is able to gain a deeper understanding of how the elements that make up the pattern are connected.
Furthermore, while she stitches, she continues to research and learn about the architecture.
For Natalie, needlepoint is not simply a way of reproducing architecture she already knows.
It is both a way of expressing architecture and a way of understanding it.
Spending so much time with a single pattern becomes a way of learning about the visual culture of that place.
The phrase “living with the architecture for a long time” seems to capture something essential about Natalie’s creative practice.
One cultural encounter leads to another
Natalie’s interest, which began with an encounter in Morocco, eventually expanded to architecture and decoration in various lands.
Encounters with different cultures can broaden the way we see and express the world.
And that expression then becomes an encounter with a new culture for someone else.
Listening to her story, I felt as though I could see that cycle in motion.
Just as Natalie encountered zellige in Morocco, perhaps her work can become a starting point for someone encountering Islamic architecture for the first time, sparking an interest in its patterns and cultural context.
Seeing the similarities within the differences
Finally, I asked her what she hopes Japanese readers will feel.
Natalie sees a connection between Islamic and Japanese design. In her words, both share a deep commitment to:
Abstraction.
Pattern.
Craft.
She also sees a similar spiritual sensibility in which pattern and restraint invite stillness.
Natalie encourages readers in Japan to look for these similarities in her work, and to connect them with what may already feel familiar in their own culture.
Encountering the culture of a different land may not just be about learning about "things different from us."
If you look closely, you can sometimes find within those differences things that resonate with the sensibilities we already know.
Someone encounters another culture and wants to know more, to understand it.
And then, they pass it on to the next person through their own expression.
I think there is something in that which overlaps with the "encounters with the world" that monbaza values.
Natalie Fisher / Artweave Originals
Natalie Fisher is a needlepoint artist based in Sydney, Australia. Her work is inspired by decorative Islamic tiles and architecture. Her needlepoint works have been exhibited in art galleries as well as non-traditional spaces including Persian carpet galleries, mosques and Islamic art museums.
[Exhibition view]
Living Ornament - Islamic Architecture in Needlepoint
Gallery76, Sydney, 2026
In 2025, she published Chok: Uzbek Architecture in Needlepoint, a book exploring Uzbek architecture through needlepoint.
Artweave Originals
https://www.artweave.com.au/
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/artweave_originals/
Images courtesy of Natalie Fisher