Design to reconnect with nature
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A selection of artists, designers and artisans who invite you to reconnect with nature and cultivate your well-being through their creations.
In times of confinement, with our vital universe limited mostly to the space of our house, access to nature has decreased exponentially and the environment of our home has taken on a renewed presence and role. Nature, however, is a great source of well-being, and for this reason, the domestic objects that help us connect with it deserve special attention in the current context of crisis.
In this piece, we highlight a selection of contemporary artists, designers and artisans who, with their creations in the fields of product and interior design, art, crafts, illustration, fashion, graphic and packaging design, connect us with the natural world and, in some cases, even help us preserve it.
This studio, launched in 2019 by two passionate artists with a love for horticulture, specializes in design-led products for the art and practice of growing plants. Its name comes from grænn, which means green in Icelandic, the country of origin of one of its founders. Graen celebrates artists, designers, writers, and thinkers who have been inspired by the beauty of nature. They do this by designing products themselves (such as seed packages so beautiful that they can be framed once used) and selecting products from other creators that they sell through their online store. Their Instagram account reflects their love for the art and design inspired by nature, and their journal delves into multiple topics around gardening and its relationship with the arts, which they also explore through a variety of collaborations and workshops.
One of the jewels of the London-based design studio Glithero is its herbarium, which its founders, Sarah and Tim, told us about in this interview. For several years, the designers have collected plants and flowers, kept them on their own presses, and created a unique archive from which they create all the patterns they use in their botanical designs. From these compositions, they create photographic veils to transfer these designs into multi-coloured tiles. The remaining prints are immortalized on the tile surface by the hands of artisans using techniques with hundreds of years of history.
Also masters of the flower press are MR Studio London, another pair of artists who create unique works on paper with their herbarium: “Our work now generally comes from closely watching and interacting with nature as it subtly changes and grows in the area around our home. Selecting and rearranging elements of flowers/foliage that we find, playing with scale and combinations, the work we create becomes a documentation of place and time as well as a poetic way to work with the landscape. We love especially to find inspiration or materials in unexpected cracks and corners- like flowers growing out of crumbling walls or bits of the forest creeping into neglected alleyways. It feels really rewarding to turn something that would be mostly overlooked into something beautiful that can be kept and cherished.”
Regular exhibitors at our Design Market and ADI-FAD members, CitySens create self-watering pots and shelves for plants with a modern, neutral, careful design and adapted to the needs of today’s life. Their mission is to bring nature closer to all the people who live in cities. If you’re having trouble keeping your plants alive, their flagship product, the vertical self-watering planter, makes it easy for you. If you prefer to water them yourself but you never know when or how much water is right, their smart sensor will give you real-time data on the light, humidity, temperature and nutrients of each of your plants.
The goal of Livingthings is to provoke emotions, incite, suggest, trigger a sensation, activate a feeling, a reflection, a smile. They do it through objects that are endearing because they exude the thrill of their creation, pieces that have an inspiring quality and that, like everything created with care and respect, convey the radiance of attention. Their Voltasol rolling pot is a great example of this, a simple but non-ordinary design that reflects the inner life of plants.
They define themselves as an icy bath in the ocean in summer or a walk in the woods in autumn and seek a balance between tradition, emotion, respect for the environment, sustainability, craftsmanship and good design. Through small collections of unique and imperfect products in which the footprint of the artisans who have created them is evident, their philosophy is based on offering contemporary products while promoting local crafts, also giving priority to rural production through small family workshops located in small villages and towns in Galicia and Portugal.
The pieces created by this studio, which specialises in quality cyanotypes inspired by nature, are made on Italian watercolour paper with a sensitive emulsion that, when exposed to direct sunlight for several minutes with a negative photo, creates a classic blue image without any ink. Kindofcyan, an A-FAD member, won the ArtsFAD 2018 Award with its Infinity Pool, and they sell other unique pieces of natural inspiration in their characteristic blue colour in their online store.
Rachel Victoria Hillis
IG
There are many illustrators dedicated to the observation and representation of nature and slow life but one of the most appreciated is Rachel Victoria Hillis. Her drawings and prints of urban scenes populated with plants have earned her more than 16,000 followers on Instagram and the truth is that they are delightful. One of her latest commissions was a lovely green spot in Barcelona’s gothic quarter.
In contrast to the detail in Hillis’s compositions, Isabela Quintes’s illustrations are simple and minimal details of plants so realistic that they look like photographs. If you want plants that do not require care and that will always look perfect, the art of this illustrator will give your house a touch of green that you will never have to water.
What if you want to carry nature with you? Flora and fauna are recurring themes in the patterns of Brava Fabrics. In addition, its pieces are made to be timeless, durable, 100% sustainable and made from natural fibers and renewable or recycled resources, such as the reusable cotton masks that they have made with leftovers of fabric from the production of other pieces.
Graphic design and visual communication can also connect us with nature and at the same time be respectful with it, not only from a formal point of view, but also through its choice of materials and inks. Graphic designer and art director, this ADG-FAD member is an active and activist example, with projects such as her zero-waste packaging for Del Montseny or the art direction for Slow Mov coffee products printed with ink and paper made with coffee leftovers.
Text: Sol Polo