Rachel Knox

BA (Hons) Textiles

Rachel Knox

The Lost Words Found, Naturally dyed interiors

In all of my work I strive to have as positive effect on our environment as possible. I am always looking for new ways to create beautiful home furnishing without using toxic paints, dyes and fabrics, while designing for the whole lifecycle of the products so they can easily be recycled.

My ‘Lost words found’ collection is inspired by Robert McFarlane’s exhibition ‘The Lost words’. These natural world words were removed from the Oxford Junior dictionary because they were no longer relevant to children of the digital age. They include Acorn, Dandelion, Magpie, oak and ash. Starlings and cowslips are no longer part of our children’s world.

By creating an interior collection, I hope to return some of these plants and animals to our children’s environment. By making the products interactive with tactile leaves, words to hunt and linking the designs to augmented reality of the natural world I hope to fully engage the children in the products, giving them greater longevity.

My fabrics are all either locally made or could be locally made here in Wales, there is wool from the national wool museum, Linen, and closed loop manufactured recycled polyester.

My dyes are made from natural plant pigments, and the paints from chalk clay and milk.

I believe that children need to be connected to nature in order to care about it. They are, after all, the future guardians of our environment.


Yn fy ngwaith i gyd, rwyf yn gwneud fy ngorau i gael effaith mor bositif â phosib ar ein hamgylchedd. Rwyf wrthi drwy’r amser yn chwilio am ffyrdd newydd i greu dodrefn hardd ar gyfer y cartref heb ddefnyddio paent, llifyn a ffabrigau gwenwynig, gan ddylunio ar gyfer oes gyfan y cynhyrchion fel y bydd yn hawdd eu hailgylchu.

Arddangosfa Robert McFarlane ‘The Lost Words’ a wnaeth ysbrydoli fy nghasgliad ‘Lost Words Found’. Cafodd y geiriau hyn o’r byd naturiol eu tynnu allan o’r Oxford Junior Dictionary gan nad oedden nhw mwyach yn berthnasol i blant yr oes ddigidol. Maen nhw’n cynnwys Mesen, Dant y Llew, Pioden, Derwen ac Onnen. Nid yw Drudwy a Briallen Fair Sawrus mwyach yn rhan o fyd ein plant.

Drwy greu casgliad mewnol, rwy’n gobeithio dychwelyd rhai o’r planhigion a’r anifeiliaid hyn i amgylchedd ein plant. Drwy wneud y cynhyrchion yn rhyngweithiol â dail cyffyrddol, geiriau i’w hela a thrwy gysylltu’r dyluniadau â realaeth helaethach y byd naturiol, rwy’n gobeithio cael y plant i ymgysylltu’n llawn â’r cynhyrchion, gan barhau eu hoes hyd yn oed yn fwy.

Cafodd fy ffabrigau eu gwneud naill ai’n lleol neu gellir eu gwneud yn lleol yma yng Nghymru; mae gwlân o’r amgueddfa wlân genedlaethol, lliain, polyester wedi’i ailgylchu a’i gynhyrchu ar ddolen gaeedig.

Mae fy llifynnau wedi’u gwneud o bigmentau planhigion naturiol a’r paent o laeth a chlai sialc.

Rwy’n credu bod angen bod plant wedi’u cysylltu â natur er mwyn bod â gofal dros natur. Nhw, wedi’r cyfan yw gwarcheidwaid ein hamgylchedd yn y dyfodol.

www.rachelknoxtextiles.wordpress.com

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