GoSadi Grotto 2025: Building a Photo-Worthy Installation

Hey Fiber Community! We just unveiled our new GoSadi grotto at Vogue Knitting LIVE 2025 and thought it would be fun to take you behind the scenes to learn how it all came together. As anyone who does these shows knows— prepping for a trade show or market display booth takes a lot of thought, effort and teamwork.

We loved our photo op display last year but the minute we took it down, we started prepping and planning for our glow up. We knew that people would want a bigger and better photo op and we wanted to show off the vibrancy of GoSadi colors and community.

We were so excited to partner with Yarnspirations who provided all the GoSadi colored yarn for our new and improved Yarn Grotto.

This rebuild is also incredibly personal to our co-founder Michele. We knew the kind of display and photo station we wanted and we knew it would be a big build. Michele reached out to Upstaging, the touring and scenic company her late husband worked at for over 10 years—right up until his untimely passing. She knew they would build something so special and put love into every step of the build.

The first iteration was compact and easy to transport but was not fully what we had envisioned the on-site experience should be. So Michele got together with the Upstaging Fabrication team to get a new iteration going—and man oh man did they ever nail it!

We needed a way to transport the wall, so we came up with the idea of designing it with folding panel “doors” that would allow it to lay flat and stand upright.

Once the build and construction was complete it was time to deliver the wall from Upstaging to Nina Chicago where our other co-founder Hilary took over for the yarn installation. The vision was to bring the GoSadi gradient alive in a beautiful backdrop of yarn provided by Yarnspirations.

The Yarnspirations team sent us ALL the beautiful GoSadi related colors so we had lots to choose from. Hilary worked tirelessly over the next 4 days making sure every ball of yarn was perfectly placed to bring this vision to life.

Michele joined in for the finishing touches and it was magical to see an idea come to life right before all our very eyes. We knew we had something to share with the whole community not just as a photo backdrop—but it was truly art.

Once we were all done, it was time to pack up the new and improved GoSadi Grotto and get ready for its debut at VKL. 

Once the wall arrived in New York City for VKL, we got right to work setting it up and putting the show floor finishing—and it was an instant hit. We loved seeing everyone enjoy the photo oop and we got such great feedback on it.

For Michele and Hilary, it was more than just a yarn wall—it represented the colors and textures of this community and our team coming together. Which is a great segway to talk about our team. 

All of our team truly came together for VKL, and we couldn’t be more proud of the GoSadi team.

We spent so many prep hours coming together for this event, and everyone truly gave their all. Every challenge was faced with grace and determination, and every collaboration and idea came to life as we worked together.

This would have been impossible without the right team. There were so many facets to get right as we introduced GoSadi to the community and celebrated our designers.

From game night to the fashion show to the installation of the wall to talking with attendees—our team executed in a manner of excellence we could only dream of.

All the months and weeks of prep came together in a weekend of fiber magic. We loved seeing the GoSadi colors throughout the weekend. Our second VKL was such a blast, and it was so exciting to see how many people enjoyed the wall and shared pics on social media.

We are already planning for VKL 2026 and hope to see you there!