When I am working on a commission, I have 4 core threads that I follow to develop new work. The first thread involves developing the research context - through desk studies and site visits where possible.

For this commission for @vadundee it was determined that I could choose a research context somewhere in Scotland and was encouraged to lean into Scottish material culture. I knew I wanted to work with sheep wool and to continue the practice I have in place of working with knit. Knit has such strong associations with Scotland… I was eager to learn more!

So in November last year I spent just over a week in Scotland travelling about in a mobile home with my little family in tow; interviewing an array of people doing different things with wool, whom I connected with via @fibreshed_scotland and just getting a feel for the place.

Here was where we spent the night after interviewing @deborah.gray7 at her studio in Oban (more on that soon) and en route to visit the @highlandfolkmuseum…

I did feel a smidge fraudulent in my Icelandic knit (from @alafoss when I was visiting @kristinvalaragnarsdottir and another knitter @sigrunmariakr and @brandur_travels and making the aquantance of @yrurari) - and yes I am still looking for that perfect knit to commemorate my Scottish adventure!

If I really want to start at the beginning - or… a beginning, I started harping on about wanting to make a seeded textile for soil restoration around the time the living textile collective met face to face for the first time in Denmark. @sermonettta had been putting earth and seed into rope core, @svenja_keune was poetically weaving life into all name of objects, @bio.materiality had been sharing processes for people to really embody being with nature… @apvsrihari was leaning into that ephermerality of plant expressing and @emilblau ´s raging curiosity was bringing a raft of technique to our explorations. Around the same time a scene was budding around us. @diana__scherer was a decade into plant-grown textile manifestations @daisyginsberg’ pollinator pathways had me excited about how algorithmes might help us to plan seeding for more than human kin… @jacob_olmedo was putting seeds into beads… (see my highlight ´other’s work for more inspiration!)so yes - this scene and creative context was building and inspiring and encouraging my ideation…
I had mainly been working with concepts of craft-made, material centric hydroponic systems… but now I wanted to think about bringing the nurturing and caring power textiles has - to put it in contact with the Earth. I came up around then with the desire to develop a textile blanket as a regenerative love letter to the earth… fast forward 2.5 years and it was this ‘love letter to the Earth’ that I had been so itching to express that I pitched to @francesca.bibby and colleagues that I don’t have IG handles for @vadundee. And so the opportunity to finally make that work began…

Finally I can start to share what I have been up to - which is working on a commission for V&A Dundee for their forthcoming exhibition Garden Futures- opening May 17th and running until Feb ‘26.
Over the next few months I’ll share a little about my research, thinking and process and the objects in the exhibition. Plus I will share a special invitation…

But today I want to urge you to book that trip to Dundee to catch this exhibition because, my contribution aside - it is replete with beautiful work from so many artists and designers I respect and admire. Plus it is a beautiful and considered take on what might the future of gardening look like? How might we engage with the world around us? What wealth do we bring with us from our history? What gardens are artists and designers dreaming?

#vadgardenfutures #stitchtoseed #livingtextiles #livingtextilearchitectures #futureenvironments

« Explore the history of modern garden design, the important role gardens play in all our lives, and find out how our outdoor spaces can shape a greener, more imaginative future.

This exhibition highlights groundbreaking gardens by visionaries like Piet Oudolf and Derek Jarman, alongside innovative work from leading artists, designers, and landscape architects, such as Jamaica Kincaid, Duncan Grant and William Morris.​

Discover what the future of gardens could look like, and gain insight into the power of gardens and how our outdoor spaces can be part of a better world.

Garden Futures: Designing with Nature is an exhibition by the Vitra Design Museum, the Wüstenrot Foundation, and the Nieuwe Instituut »