Red Eye Interview
Crossing Boundaries - Interview
Like nature, biotech invites us to exist beyond categories to generate product design processes that are alive and support further life.
‘What I am doing is a craft which is guiding nature’ Zena explains while citing basket weaving or woodwork as examples. ‘It is cultural in a way because it is working with a natural fibre and, in other ways, it’s more scientific.’
Zena Holloway in conversation with Grant Gibson
In this episode Grant and Zena talk about: how she came to work with wheatgrass; early experiments with other materials; why her process is like a school experiment; how beeswax provided a Eureka! moment; ‘collaborating’ with her material; roots’ potential in industry; working with Kylie; giving up underwater photography and becoming a full-time bio-designer; creating new products with fashion designer Phoebe English; being fuelling by optimism; oh and stealing her son’s Lego.”
Serpentine Gallery, Ocean Talks
Rootfull is a material innovation company developing a highly novel textile by guiding plant root to “weave” unique artefacts and surfaces. It’s a disruptive innovation that fuses sustainability, creativity, and natural artistry, brought together by underwater photographer and bio-designer, Zena Holloway.
De le Cuona
For London Craft Week Zena Holloway has partnered with De Le Cuona, utilising the natural textile brand’s colour palette, to create a series of ethereal accessories for the home.
Resurgence Magazine
Roots are building blocks for the land, while coral is similarly so underwater. It is critical to the health of the oceans.
Peppermint Magazine
“The idea of collaborating with nature is huge and far-reaching and extraordinary. I’d love to inspire more people to get involved so we can change the way we build things.”
Positive News Magazine
“It’s building with something new and completely organic,” says Holloway. “And I thought that, if I could make it wearable, it all comes back to us and what we’re doing to the planet.”