Atelier Māya – Berlin’s Sustainable Block Printing & Natural Dye Atelier

Enter the Atelier:
A space for colour, material, and textile research. Workshops and research intensives in block printing and natural dye. A slow, material-led reset for individuals and creative teams.

‍Slow Craft Summer
Design-led sessions for individuals or small groups in block printing and natural dye.
- Explore the summer atelier

Group Experiences
Hosted studio experiences for teams seeking a slower, more focused way to reconnect through material and process.
– Explore Group Experiences

Natural dye explorations with Rooibos tea in Atelier Māya, Berlin.

Natūra Botanica
A study of colour and material through textiles.
- Explore Natūra Botanica

Atelier Māya is a block printing atelier and textile research studio in Berlin.

The studio explores print, colour, and material through block printing, wax resist, and responsible colour systems. Atelier Māya operates as a contemporary print lab, where participants work independently at dedicated print tables. Work takes place through structured, process-led studio sessions.

The work builds on field research by founder Lizane Louw with master craftsmen and continues through ongoing studio practice in Berlin.

The Māya Experience: Story Driven Design

Māya explores heritage, craft, and sustainability through research-led studio practice. Each print reflects process, material, and variation, connecting making with meaning.

‍The Māya Journey 
Research, practice and our print thinking philosophy
- Read the Journey

NATŪRA Natural Narratives, Bagru is a limited-edition capsule collection shaped by the raw beauty of natural colours and the raw authenticity of handcrafted textiles. Available at the Maya Block Print Berlin Experience.

‍The Curated Cupboard
A collection of printed textiles and studio pieces
– Explore the Cupboard

‍Field Notes
Observations, studies, and print explorations
– Read Field Notes

Contemporary textile research through print, colour, and material.

About Māya

We love textiles, travel, and exploration.

Atelier Māya grew from a deep curiosity about cloth, colour, pattern, and the stories held within textile traditions across different cultures and landscapes.

Through years of travel and ongoing field research, the atelier has developed a contemporary practice focussed on observation, material study, and process-led making. Our work moves between block-printing studios, natural-dye workshops, artisan communities, research journeys, and the print tables of the Berlin atelier.

Today, Māya brings together block printing, natural dye, wax resist and material exploration through workshops, private atelier sessions, and research-led experiences.

The studio is designed as a calm and focused environment where participants can enjoy a creative escape, work with their hands, and develop a deeper relationship with cloth, colour, and surface.

Rather than focusing on fixed outcomes, the atelier encourages experimentation and the development of individual print language through process, observation, experimentation and making.

Atelier Māya continues to evolve through fieldwork, collaboration, and ongoing research into contemporary textile practice, print culture, and material traditions.

Maya Block Print Berlin Experiences, Stories and Block Print Workshops. Collaborating with master artisans at workshops and studios in Bagru, we print with natural dyes, eco-friendly inks, and hand-carved blocks on cotton.

This is a portrait of master printer Mr Prakash Chippa, whom Lizane photographed during workshops with Studio Bagru in Bagru, India. This photograph is on display in the new Atelier in Berlin. Come listen to the stories of the master printers we learn from and work with. Photo Lizane Louw

Follow our textile explorations, print projects and research on Instagram.

You will also find the latest information on our block printing workshops in Berlin.

Join our growing international craft community.

View fullsize Field Notes from the Atelier When Jillian brought her design students from Western Carolina University into the atelier, the goal was not to introduce a new printing technique. As she shared before the workshop, she wanted her students “to ex
View fullsize Block Print, Wax Resist & Indigo 14 June · Atelier Māya, Berlin Five participants. Each working at their own custom-designed 2 metre print table. A full day inside a working textile research atelier exploring block printing, molt
View fullsize Block Print, Wax Resist and Indigo: Field Notes from our First Public Wax Resist & Indigo Session This weekend we welcomed a small group into Atelier Māya for our first public wax resist and indigo workshop. The session built on months of res
View fullsize Block Print & Sashiko — A Māya x Keiko Experience Where Print Meets Stitch: A Textile Study Developed Inside the Atelier For the past year, Atelier Māya and Keiko have been developing a shared textile practice between block printing and
View fullsize Block Print & Sashiko: A Māya x Keiko Experience 24 May · Atelier Māya, Berlin Eight participants. Eight custom-designed 2 metre print tables. One full day inside a working textile research atelier. The day moves between block print
View fullsize Block Print, Wax Resist and Indigo: Field Notes from our First Community Session The wax resist explorations at Atelier Māya are inspired by field research and time spent in Bhujpur, Gujarat, where we studied block printing with wax alongside maste
View fullsize The Tools of a Master, Anwar Khatri The past four months of test printing and mark-making have been challenging and transformative. We have explored wax resist in Bali and Malaysia, and at the end of last year spent time in Bhujpur, Gujarat, India,
View fullsize Les Amis x Māya: Spring Rhythm I started Māya in the middle of ‘24, feeling rather isolated in Berlin. Being from Cape Town and used to a “lekker vibe” around me, it was hard to find a sense of community here. I was searching for
View fullsize From the Māya Anthology: Studies in Line and Rhythm Sample book, 1899–1901 Accession no. 1936-31-5 Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, NY Samples of silk ribbons I return to lines often in my work. In the atelier, I have explored
View fullsize Inside Atelier Māya   People arrive at the atelier with a simple intention: to learn block printing, to make something with their hands or to try a print technique.   But the experience does not stay there.   What begins as an introduc
View fullsize Rooibos as colour and material memory. Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) grows in the Cederberg mountains of the Western Cape. These mountainous regions, with very hot, dry summers and cool winters, create the conditions in which this plant thrives. Ro
View fullsize Over the past weeks, we’ve been in a deep flow state, exploring a variety of inks, dyes, and wax for new workshop experiences. There has been a lot of creativity in our research and explorations. We’ve been working with a plant-based wax
View fullsize Field Notes from a Print Weekend On our first Print Weekend of ‘26, the print tables slowly filled with colour and print experiments made by curious hands. Participants were introduced to our world of woodblocks and pattern. Some stepped into
View fullsize We are radical in our protest against the machine. We move slowly. Deliberately. My name is Lizane, and I invite you into a slow-craft and mindful-making movement rooted in research, material knowledge, and lived experience. At Māya, we are radical
View fullsize The Khatri Vibe: Colour Alchemy It is our love for colour and craft, especially block printing, that brought us from Berlin to Bhujpur. One of our biggest gifts this year was a chance encounter on Instagram: an introduction to a world of colour and
View fullsize Free your mind.   Day 5 in Bhujpur with our teacher and mentor, Anwar Khatri.   Anwar is a fifth-generation master batik artist and colour alchemist, but more than all these labels, he is a talented, knowledgeable, generous and very attenti

Atelier Māya on Instagram

Designed to make a difference.