Eloise Collins
(she/her)
Pockets of nature can be found growing everywhere in our urban environments, from cracks in walls and pavements to holes in drains but are often overlooked during our everyday activities or seen as a nuisance that we should get rid of.
Through my collection Uncontrollable I aim to highlight the beauty of this part of plant life as well as nature’s ability to grow, adapt and thrive in unexpected places. To represent this, I used shapes from the leaves and flowers of a dandelion plant in my designs. I was originally drawn to dandelions as I admired their stubbornness and how difficult they are to get rid of as well as their ability to grow almost anywhere, emphasising how nature can never full be controlled, no matter how hard we try to.
By wearing the pieces in this collection, these plants have a new unexpected place to ‘grow’.
Uncontrollable and Extended Design Project
My inspirations for my extended design project Uncontrollable – Expanded come from dandelions, daisies and buttercups which are plants that are seen as a nuisance to many and are less desirable compared to other plant life. The focus of my final collection is only dandelions so for this collection wanted to expand my design inspirations to more than one plant. The aim of my designs is to help highlight the beauty of these plants/flowers which is often overlooked and makes audiences appreciate their resilience and uncontrollable nature. Through my pieces in this collection, I wanted to explore other elements that I have not used in my final collection such as using gemstones or creating a model out of wax and having it cast, and how I could implement them into my designs. I also used the same style of abstract flower drawings for some of the pieces that I had used in my physical work. A possible clientele for this collection who be those interested in plants and want a piece that shows their interest in this part of nature. A way of reaching this market of people could be a pop-up shop/exhibition in places such as garden centres or botanical gardens where it is more likely that people who have an interest in plants would be. By exhibiting this work in a place such as a garden centre where weed killers and herbicides are sold to remove plants like dandelions, it could potentially help people to see these plants in a different light, not just a pest that needs to be eradicated.
