Graffiti Gardens™: Sustainable Surfaces

What is your vision of textile futures?
I believe a form of textile exists in everything around us and it’s our responsibility to nurture it. If I had to pin my vision down to one specific thing, sidewalks would become grass trampolines.

What is your project about?
Graffiti Gardens™ is about being aware of our surroundings and investigates our responsibility to the environment and to future generations. My collection seeks to exploit natural processes and materials while allowing the user to interact with their domestic environment or, on a larger scale, the urban landscape.

What inspires you?
The architect Louis I Kahn once said, “It is my feeling that living things and non-living things are dichotomous… But I feel that if all living plants and creatures were to disappear, the sun would still shine and the rain still fall. We need Nature, but Nature doesn’t need us.”

Why are you doing this project? What does it mean to you?
A change in our lifestyle and our impact on the environment is imminent. However, realistic and good-looking solutions are few and far between. In the context of the interiors/exteriors market this project asks two questions: ‘Can Sustainability be sexy?’ and ‘Is it possible to meet certain aesthetic demands while maintaining an ethical approach?’

What is ‘future’ about it?
It seeks to ensure that we have a future.

Which materials and technologies have you used?
Cork, ceramics, plaster, copper, brass, steel, slate, water based pigments and varnishes, printing, weaving, laser cutting, casting.

Amelia Carter
After receiving her BFA Textile Design from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 2004, Amelia joined the MA Design for Textile Futures course at Central Saint. Martins College.

Acknowledgements:
I’d like to thank my parents for their love and encouragement, support and belief in all of my projects, no matter how big or small. And to our beloved technicians Kevin, Alan and June in textiles, Campbell and Paul in jewellery and Ginger in ceramics: thank you for all your help with this project, you are truly the backbone of the University! Also thanks to Ashley: I wouldn't have survived this city without you, I look forward to many more years!