Dora

Shame Studios is proud to present our PRIDE collection, raising funds for The Human Dignity Trust, an incredible charity that uses the courts to overturn laws that criminalise people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Inspired by, and in celebration of, queer joy and history, each rug takes its namesake from a renowned queer figure and icon.

As one of 3 limited edition rainbow palette rugs, this piece takes its name from one of the first people to receive gender-affirming surgery, Dora Richter. Born in 1891 in East Germany, Dora escaped her rural homeland and travelled more than 200 km north to Berlin in hopes of living as she saw herself. After repeated arrests for wearing dresses in public and time served in male prisons, her life took a hopeful change after an introduction to physician, sexologist, and LGBTQ advocate Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld.

Employed at the Institute for Sexual Science — the first modern research institute for queer and transgender health — she was allowed to live openly as a woman, receiving groundbreaking surgery in 1922, as well as one of the Institute’s first full reassignments in 1931. Tragically, her life, and the life of the Institute, was robbed of their future by the rise of Nazism and destroyed in 1933.

Her bravery and strength is remembered in gratitude by the trans community today. In such, we dedicate. Dora is life in full bloom, an abundance of hope and possibility. Bringing a touch of individuality and colour to spaces large and small, Dora is a flat-weave rug made from recycled cotton. Hand woven in Varanasi, the spiritual heartland of India, the scalloped edges are inspired by the famed Ettore Sottsass Mirror and require a high degree of craftsmanship.

Dora's story very nearly slipped through the cracks of history, but much like the tenacity of nature, beautiful flowers have a habit of blossoming through cracks.

Words by Beau Gervais