"I Love Structures," Says Jana Dohnalová, Former Lawyer and Winner of the Competition
April 26, 2025 / 6:30 PM
Jana Dohnalová, the newly crowned winner of the creative competition In the Circle, has been working with patchwork for over 10 years. She is taking home the grand prize — a sewing machine from Haišman worth over 32,000 CZK — to her village near Brno.
"I'll give it a try and see how it goes. One of my machines is already getting old, so maybe this new one will replace it," said the creator of the winning quilt The Mysterious Life Under the Microscope.
What inspired her theme? "I love structures, and I was inspired by photos of different slices and cells under the microscope. I tried to capture one of them in my quilt," said Dohnalová, who worked intensively on the piece for two weeks.
Originally trained as a lawyer, she eventually left the field to pursue textile art. Today, she offers online courses in free-motion quilting, fabric dyeing, and teaches women how to create their own quilts.
Her work even inspired the organizers of the Brno Patchwork Meeting, who used her quilt from last year’s competition in the visual identity for this year's event.
