My time at Acne was an extremely important moment for fostering my creativity and learning to break the rules. After a few years, I realised that I needed a change. I wanted to slow down and have more time to research and develop my own artistic practice.

I have always had a deep interest in how we live and interact with our environment, both in nature and in our interior environments, such as our homes, studios, and offices, where we spend so much of our time. How do the objects and materials within these micro-climates change the way we think and feel? An interest in and sensitivity to this led me to start creating sculptural forms.

I came across a YouTube home tour of a self-built house made of hemp and lime. In this video, and through my subsequent research, I discovered the incredible potential of the hemp plant and hempcrete. Hempcrete is renewable, sustainable, natural, non-toxic, breathable, fireproof, and mould-resistant. When building a house with hempcrete you have extremely good insulation as well as humidity regulation. Outside of just building with the hemp shives, the multitude of uses for the whole plant—for oil, fibre, seeds, etc.—is just incredible. This plant never ceases to impress and inspire me. Shortly after this initial discovery, I drove to a hemp farm outside of Berlin to get materials, brought them back to my studio, and started experimenting.
The last four years have been dedicated to building on these experiments and I still feel there is so much to explore.

I had no idea where my initial research would take me, and I am still just enjoying the journey and excited to see where it goes next. I have found a very deep connection to the material, and the nature of the material lends itself to the form I want to create.In terms of my process, all pieces are created using a base structure of hemp and lime, which is then layered with natural lime and clay plaster with natural pigments. The final layer is then polished with a stone using a finish inspired by the Moroccan technique of Tadelakt. When I first started working with the material, there was a period of several months during which there were a lot of failures. The materials and processes are simple, but simple doesn’t always mean easy. Even now, sometimes I have issues with the material. It's affected by the time of year and the weather; you have to be patient and understanding.

I believe that all aspects of our life experiences influence the outcome of a creative practice, so I know that there are many ways in which my time working in fashion has influenced me, although it is hard to put it in words. However, I have worked in both tailoring and shoe design, and in both of these fields, there is a lot about layering materials in order to get the properties and strengths that you need. In that sense, there is a strong link to my current process of working with layers.

My practice is about working with my intuition, my sculptures are a way for me to translate my current emotional energy into form and shape. The tactility of both textiles and hemp is definitely something that I find necessary when choosing a medium to work in. For my most recent exhibition, I created some textile works, which was an exciting return to textiles within my practice. In the last room, where I created the feeling of being on a tea room or tea ceremony, there were large-scale interactive textile sculptures that I had sewn together and filled with raw hemp shiv. These were an invitation to sit down, slow down, and sink into the space. The combination of textiles and hemp created a firm but soft touch that offered support and respite from the hectic pace of everyday life. There was also a textile wall piece made from a series of colour tests for the larger textile pieces. It was inspired by Bojagi, a traditional Korean folk art consisting of patchwork cloths made from scraps of fabrics such as cotton, silk, ramie, and hemp. For me, this piece shows the spontaneity and beauty of the process of experimentation.

Creating sculptures that engage with the space is a big part of my practice. I always work on multiple sculptures at one time as a series. Each piece can be turned, rotated, and stacked with others to form new structures; these soft narratives encourage relationship with the user and are intended to feed our desire to play, to take apart, and to rebuild.

My first solo show was an incredibly inspiring experience because there were four rooms that had a beautiful flow to them. I wanted each room to be its own sculptural environment, but also to be in dialogue with each other and play off each other. When you walk through the space, you are taken on a journey as well as a sensory experience. The first room was a subtle space for contemplation, with a feeling of a sculptural forest with the tall floor lamp and the mushroom-like wall pieces. The large blue and beige floor pieces were site-specific works assembled to create a sense of grounding and encourage the viewer to explore new perspectives of the space. I believe deeply in the power of the senses to transport you to new landscapes, and in the first room, you were greeted with a deeply grounding scent diffusion of cedar and patchouli. Combined, these essences create space in your mind, clearing away negative thoughts and slowing you down.
The second room was about embracing the raw material and the beauty of the layers of the process. How the layers build upon themselves, showing the contrast between the outer and inner material characters. The third room was filled with the "Species of the Space" sculptural series and was very much about creating this interaction between the sculptures and allowing the visitor to walk through and experience all of these pieces together. A second scent diffusion welcomed you to the fourth and final room of the exhibition, this time with the freshness of Japanese Shiso to bring revitalisation and the sharpness of Hyssop to stimulate creativity by purifying blockages. The large textile seating pieces, as I already described, created a place for visitors to sit and regain a sense of calm. I also made very simple ceramic pinch pots and served tea to the visitors.

The issues facing our planet are truly terrifying and I hope that through art and design we can inform and engage audiences in conversations about the environment, that it can help to influence people when they make decisions about the materials or products they choose to use.

This is, in fact, a very exciting time for me and a time of transition. I am currently working on a large interior project in Majorca for Hotel Corazon, which will open this summer. After that, I will be moving my studio to the south of France. After many years in Berlin, I decided with my partner that it was time for us to move out of the city and closer to nature. I have always dreamed of building my own hemp house, and this is one step closer to achieving this dream. There is still a lot to figure out, but this is the start of new adventures!