From body to fabric, from memory to community: a conversation with Krystal Paniagua
Inside our Jardín Prim campus , where the studios of the creative community of Proyectos Públicos are housed, there is a discreet space that opens like a little box of curiosities. There, among rolls of yarn stacked like laboratory instruments, handwritten pattern formulas, and family photos, a warm light reveals a group of women working with total concentration; the workshop in which Krystal Paniagua weaves her ecosystem. Minna, Fran, Helen, and the Puerto Rican designer work together, whom I visited to talk, among hundreds of spools and the rhythmic sound of the knitting machines.
Krystal was born in 1993 on a military base in Germany. Her family, a member of the U.S. Navy, moved soon after to Texas, and at the age of five they returned to Puerto Rico, where she grew up. As a teenager she knew she wanted to pursue something artistic. Dancing, acting, clothes: it was all part of the same question that began to creep into her body: How do I want to represent myself?
That exploration had a turning point when she went to live with her grandmother Carmen. "Abuelita (as she is affectionately called) was my first role model. She had a peculiar taste, honest, unapologetically stylish. To be in her house was to live a constant treasure hunt: boxes with unexpected objects, secret systems among the apparent chaos. I never found those things strange. On the contrary, it sparked my imagination."
View of Krystal Paniagua's studio at General Prim, one of the Proyectos Públicos compounds.
At 16 Krystal bought a sewing machine, took classes and made her own prom dress. Her family was full of self-taught people: a great-grandmother who was a seamstress, a grandfather who played clarinet, saxophone and flute in the evenings, a respected mechanic uncle, a sister who was a nail technician. The example was always clear: if you want something, you do it.
At the age of 18 she was accepted to the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, against all odds. "I was never a good student, I thought I didn't have the ability. But I knew I wanted to do something big. I sent my portfolio and, to my surprise, I was accepted. That's when I understood that fashion was not only creativity: it was also business. And I didn't have contacts, resources, or a clear explanation of how it all worked."
In New York he encountered a competitive environment, with no community. "I thought about quitting. I didn't feel creative. Then I found an exchange program in Milan, knitwear, and I left with an interest in taking the discipline elsewhere." Fortunately, in Italy the dynamic was very different from New York. There was a work ethic, and people prioritized having personal lives over work lives. There was more humanity, it didn't feel like a failure, making mistakes was part of the process, and thanks to that she was able to get back into fashion, and especially into weaving techniques. Her interest is in design as a language, not in the fashion market. "I'm interested in the creative world. Not the system, not the object itself."
Knitting hands.
"Designing with knitwear is liberating. I create my own formulas and invent my own patterns depending on what I want to achieve. The fabric stretches, compresses, and can have any tension I want. It's transformative."
"I'm interested in the architecture of the silhouette."says Krystal. Her garments do not seek to dominate the body, but to accompany it. They are transformative in the most vital sense: they adapt and resignify themselves with each person who wears them. Knitwear is her medium par excellence: it is a malleable, technical yet sensitive material, where rules can be broken with intention. "I love it because I have total control of the material. It gives me flexibility. It stretches, it compresses, there are shapes you can't make with cotton. With natural fiber yarn knitting, I can create my own formulas that require me to have good technique, but also allow me to play." Knitted garments, made with love, require attention, patience and a great capacity for observation: it only takes one wrong step for everything to fall apart. "In the world of knitwear there is a very particular and remarkable type of personality: there is humility and patience."
After a graduate program in London, living the precariousness of the fashion world from the inside, and facing other hostile environments, it just so happened that, in the hostel across the street from her graduation show, some journalists from Vogue and interviewed her. From there, she was contacted by Dazed y i.D. to write articles about her and her work, which helped her catapult and give visibility and recognition to her work. HQIa creative studio space, offered her free spaces, and she was part of Generation Next 2020an annual recognition program for outstanding emerging talent from Teen Vogue. Despite the opening of all these doors, she still lacked this sense of belonging, and with many limitations.
In 2022 he came to Mexico for the first time, just on vacation. "It was a pleasant surprise. I felt at home, and I found a Latino community, which is who I am." He made the decision to stay, open his studio at Public ProjectsHe made the decision to stay, to open his studio in Proyectos Públicos, to form a team, to learn to delegate, to be a leader. In 2024, she registered Krystal Paniagua officially as a trademark. "It's very recent! (laughs) I wasn't that serious! But it is now. I'm building solid foundations for a sustainable business."
Fran + Helen.
At 31, she is no longer accountable to anyone. "I like who I am. I found my identity. Sometimes I'm still very hard on myself. Being so strict and judgmental about my work is a blessing and curse at the same time, but I also see that we're getting to where we wanted to be."
"The important thing now is to have a strong team, to be able to pay them well, to grow together. That's the priority. And to keep exploring, because there is so much to do yet..."
His dream is not only to make clothes. She is looking for her brand to become a multidisciplinary platform, where they can have musicians and guest bands, collaborative pop-ups, dinners, residenciesdinners, residencies, and talent discovery, to explore the world of the brand beyond the garments. Also to serve as a support network for other projects, being very conscious of how much the support she was able to have helped her brand grow, and with a desire to give back to whoever needs it in the same process. "I was part of a support system that I am grateful for, and I would like to replicate it."
The work of Krystal Paniagua reminds us that beauty is also in the imperfect, in what takes time to build, in what is done in company. Her practice, intimate and courageous, invites us to imagine other ways of perceiving ourselves, of representing ourselves, and of inhabiting the body. She speaks with clarity, but also with gentleness. Like her threads, her ideas are interwoven with firmness and sensitivity. And that, in itself, is already an act of radical tenderness.
