Quick Takes With: Diana Weymar of Tiny Pricks Project

This month’s Quick Takes star is nothing short of a celebrity to those of us who feel pulled to make things by hand. If you’ve been on Instagram in the last decade, you’ve probably seen Diana Weymar’s work: Under the handle @tinypricksproject, she hand-stitches quotes both horrifying and hopeful, unprecedented and uplifting onto handkerchiefs and scraps of cloth as a way to witness and remember, distilling the noise of the world into a handmade, physical record.

But political embroidery isn’t Diana’s first medium. “I grew up in the wilderness of Northern British Columbia without electricity or indoor plumbing,” she writes. “At Princeton University I studied creative writing with Joyce Carol Oates, John McPhee, Russell Banks, and Paul Auster, and I have worked in independent film and publishing.” But when she embroidered “I am a very stable genius” onto a needlepoint cushion almost a decade ago, her art found a new medium (and 155,000 followers); since then, her book, Crafting a Better World, features the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis, Suleika Jaouad, Roz Chast, and Maira Kalman. As Oprah summed up Diana’s book: “The pen may be mightier than the sword, but, as Weymar and her crafting cadre prove, the needle is sharper.”

Today Diana writes in from Victoria, British Columbia, with the books she loves, a film about homes she can’t forget, and—unsurprisingly—inspiring words to live by.

You’re invited to dinner. What’s your go-to gift?

A stitched piece from my collection. I think it’s very important to give people handmade things. Even writing a note by hand is tender. Important. It becomes a personal message and medium.

What’s on your bedside table?

Dust. Two framed photos (one of my husband, one of us together) that keep falling over. Muji pens, Post-its, and books. My favorites right now are Wifedom by Anna Funder, Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe, and Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton. And always a volume of Mary Oliver’s poetry.

What’s your desert island design/art/architecture-related book?

Stuff: A New York Life of Cultural Chaos by Kim Hastreiter, so I could miss the things I didn’t have with me and never had at all. She is an icon. I’ve been in her apartment and seen some of her collections in person. Everything she touches is by design, is designed. Her book is a gift to anyone who has ever felt connected to their art, objects, and collected anything at all.

What podcast or playlist do you put on when you need inspiration?

The Great Women Artists with Katy Hessel, All There Is with Anderson Cooper, and Solutions with Henry Blodget. Who isn’t inspired by art, grief, and solutions?

What’s a film or TV show whose aesthetic has stuck with you?

Sentimental Value (2025) by Joachim Trier. I saw in one night and went back the next to see it again. The family home that is sanitized to sell is heartbreaking. My father died three years ago and it’s almost impossible to let go of what houses hold but equally impossible to hold onto it all. It is all memory and music. Art. There are many shots that are frames within frames. Every room is a stage for another piece of the drama.

Which Instagram account do you go to for design inspiration?

Other than Remodelista? I love Maira Kalman (she’s in my book) and Roz Chast (ditto). I have followed Debbie Millman forever and never get tired of her storytelling and design features. I also find Ffern Artisan Eau De Parfum compelling. I want to be inside the perfume.

What has been your best house upgrade?

A mudroom that could double as a pre-school cloakroom. Leave what you’ve come in with behind and enter the house with a lighter load. Also, I hate looking for things while rushing out the door.

My favorite sheets are…

Clean.

Three words that describe my design style:

Sentimental, personal, and intimate.

First design love?

The log cabin my parents built.

Thanks so much, Diana! Follow her work @tinypricksproject and @dianaweymar and via tinypricksproject.com.