Melko Designs



Melko Designs

About The Artist

Janine D'Adamo • Baltimore, MD
Basketry • CUSTOM COMMISSIONS

Janine D'Adamo is a multi media artist and the Founder of Melko Designs. She works with cotton rope, fabric scraps, ribbon, thread, fibers and different color dyes to make handmade rope baskets. Each one is unique. Most baskets are made using an 85 year old antique Singer 107 G 103 industrial machine. Janine has a background in photography, ceramics and digital art. She has been making vessels of all sorts for 30 years.



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Q&A with the Artist

Tell us how your work is made.

Each basket is unique. Most baskets are made using an 85 year old antique Singer 107 G 103 industrial machine in a small corner of my kids playroom. I use three different sizes of rope and all kinds of other materials like ribbon, bias tape, fabric and really anything I can wrap around the rope and sew through. I love neon thread colors and rainbows.


What makes you passionate about the medium you work with?

I love the vessel form as I used to work in ceramics. Having kids has forced me to find a way to create inside my home instead of leaving to use an outside studio. I am super interested in different vessel shapes and sizes from ceramic to baskets. I love exploring these shapes and adding materials. I think of myself as a mother bird working hard on her nests in my corner of the playroom.

What is something unique about you or your practice?

The neon colors are unique. There is a real twist and the modern feel of a traditional rope basket that the bright thread colors bring. And an excitement with the hand dyed work. The newest work is dip dyed just as you would a ceramic bowl in glaze but this is a rope basket in fabric dye.