Graduate collection, 2024

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Inspired by the Dutch ‘New Perennial’ horticultural movement, this project explores a growing convergence of art, design, ecology and holistic anthropology for a deepening sense of shared responsibility. Taking cues from the wider landscape, the movement values plant self regeneration, muted colour, structure and texture. Perennial plant, meaning ‘through the years’, are plants which flower, fruit and seed multiple times in successive years or seasons, regenerating from their overwintering structures. The project is conceptually based on these plant dormancy structures such as seed heads, bulbs, tubers, stems and crowns, informing visual, compositional and material choice. Sustainable resource allocation, allows perennial plants to invest more resources into these structures to remain dormant for long periods, before recommencing growth and reproduction when suitable. Through vigorous lifecycle assessment, the collection explores textiles in symbiosis with nature, attuned to ecology, expressing the beauty and future preservation through dormancy within the circular perennial lifecycle.

My collection aims to reward and feed curiosity, proposing a renewal of traditional, slow craft processes and techniques, such as woven textile, paper making and spinning, within a fine art context. Showcasing versatility in form, scale and natural fibre application at various stages of its processed life, I intend to provoke connection with and appreciation for the truth of plant materiality.