OBRA: Creative Healing Studio

GISELLE MANZANO RAMÍREZ

Multidisciplinary Designer | Textile Artist | Educator | Creative Director

Colombian-born, Hudson Valley-based artist whose work merges experimental textiles, fashion, graphic design, and cultural production as tools for healing, transformation, and collective memory.

Founder of KRATER nonprofit platform. Director of Communications and Engagement at Hudson Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center.

Educator on Domestika reaching thousands globally.

Textiles as Emotional and Material Language

OBRA is a multidisciplinary studio that explores themes of trauma, identity, and resilience through wearable sculpture and symbolic surface design.

Using salvaged household materials and experimental techniques such as rust dyeing, reverse dye, and found-object stamping, OBRA creates garments that function as sculptural second skins—embodying personal and collective narratives.

OBRA transforms discarded textiles—into artifacts of rupture, memory, and repair. Each collection begins with a conceptual framework and develops through tactile processes rooted in embodiment and storytelling. OBRA’s collections are not seasonal—they are evolving bodies of work activated through performance, ritual, and exhibition.

View Legacy Burdens

View Gateless

View The Burden

Teaching & Global Reach

Domestika Masterclass

Giselle’s international course on Domestika, Textile Design: Upcycling Clothes with Experimental Techniques, teaches students how to transform secondhand garments using symbolic and experimental printmaking. The course blends narrative design, color psychology, and hands-on surface techniques—impacting over 2,000 students in more than 20 countries.

Take My Master Class

What Students Around the World Are Saying

"I am really enjoying this course and though only half way through the exercises have already applied the skills learned to make embellished textiles I've used in projects. I'm delighted with the textiles that are being created. Giselle, the teacher is really thorough and explains every technique step by step at a pace thats easy to follow. Even though I'm very experienced textile artist I've learned new things that are going to be a great asset to add to my repertoire."

Student from Australia
"Really loved the constructive views on colour psychology principles, the multiple resources and design tips. Highly recommended!"

Student from Italy
"I love Giselle's designs, she is also very didactic and in this course she manages to merge many concepts that were very well applied to the course. In addition to addressing technical content, it invites you to unleash your imagination by connecting with emotional aspects linked to handling color, shapes, the composition of different designs in the same garment but which in turn has a very personal and original dialogue."

Student from Argentina

KRATER :A Platform for Creative and Cultural Transformation

Founded in 2023, KRATER is a nonprofit cultural platform supporting queer, BIPOC, women-identifying, and Latinx/é designers and artists through free access during New York Fashion Week.

We have presented 30+ multidisciplinary artists from 10+ countries, providing professional production, press coverage, and direct sales opportunities. Through immersive events merging fashion, performance, and music, KRATER eliminates financial barriers and builds sustainable creative communities. We received 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in December 2025 and are evolving from event-based to year-round programming including residencies, workshops, and expansion to Latin America.

Featured in Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and PAPER Magazine.

→ wearekrater.org

Learn About KRATER

Recent Work: GATELESS II – The Burden

A sculptural garment and performance piece exploring ancestral burden, protection, and healing through movement, textile art, and ritual. Presented during KRATER and selected for the upcoming Women in the Arts group exhibition (2025), this work embodies OBRA’s commitment to storytelling through embodiment, performance, and symbolic surface design.

Watch the Performance

Graphic Design & Visual Communication

Rooted in a background in graphic design and visual communication, Giselle’s early work focused on abstraction, education, and narrative. From branding and editorial illustration to curriculum design and storytelling through print, her visual design portfolio spans music, education, fashion, and activism.