The name behind the brand
Gordina de Groot
A woman from Nuenen. A name that carries a story.
Gordina takes its name from Gordina de Groot, a woman from Nuenen who appears in Vincent van Gogh’s The Potato Eaters (1885).
We work in the same village today. Her story connects our name to this place, and to the value we find in everyday life.
Nuenen, 1885
A face in the painting
Gordina de Groot was one of Van Gogh’s models during his years in Nuenen. He painted her in several studies before including her among the five figures gathered around the table in The Potato Eaters.
The painting grew out of careful preparation. Van Gogh made more than forty studies of farmworkers’ heads as he developed the work.
’s-Hertogenbosch, 2024
Gordina comes home
Of all the people who modelled for Van Gogh in Nuenen, Gordina de Groot is the only one whose name we know with certainty. She was a farmer’s daughter from the village. His painted study of her, Head of a Woman (March–April 1885), is closely linked to The Potato Eaters.
In 2024, Het Noordbrabants Museum in ’s-Hertogenbosch acquired the portrait from a British collector for €8.6 million, the largest purchase in the museum’s history. It was made possible by the Dutch government, several funds and a public campaign across Brabant.
The museum presents her as the centrepiece of its Van Gogh collection. For us, she is a reminder of what our work is about: looking closely at ordinary lives, and carrying their stories forward.
Read more at Het Noordbrabants MuseumFrom the name to the needle
Stories, carried forward
For us, the connection begins with attention: to the people behind an image, to the work behind an object, and to the details that remain in memory.
That idea shapes Gordina today. We research historical textiles, symbols and personal stories, then translate them into embroidery for everyday clothing.
A motif holds its own history. Our work is to give it a new place in the present.
Our Story