The fabrics that swath, envelope, and surround, whilst now ever exploring new materialities, still mostly stem from the results of concerted interactions at a cellular level. It is the microorganisms and microbiomes that result in healthy conditions for fibre-producing plant cells to healthily grow, for sheep to produce their wool, and insects to spin their delicate threads.
It's easy to fall into the notion of a single source, that a single organism is responsible for what shelters, or accentuates, us. Yet the reality is that it is ecosystems that as a whole enable the continued growth that through transformative harvest become what we wear. Additionally, this is a reality we ignore at our own peril, as the vulnerable nature of the ecosystems becomes ever more urgent to protect, and regenerate.
This work attempts to use the structural vocabulary of embroidery to conjure forth an artificial tapestry of speculative, embroidered cellular structures, giving them forms visible to the naked eye as a reminder of the microscopic reality that we are so dependent on nurturing.
