Root Textiles with Zena Holloway
Zena Holloway started her career as an underwater photographer, working for major publications such as National Geographic, GQ and The Sunday Times. Her work allowed her to see first-hand the damage being done to the oceans by climate change and plastic pollution, this inspired her to explore biodegradable materials that could have real impact on the future of human waste.
“I’m firmly embedded in the creative industries and from these experiences the root textile has emerged. It’s an interplay of craft, design, sustainability, sculpture, product design, biology, chemistry, and storytelling—fusing disciplines that would otherwise remain separated.”
What is Rootfull?
Rootfull is the business that Zena founded in 2018, after she pioneered a new material by growing roots in specially carved templates. Rootfull brings together human craft skills with natural processes to fulfil its mission to ‘catalyse change, turn off the plastic tap, and design differently’. As well as developing the processes and crafting objects for sale, Zena operates a small business. This includes support tasks such as applying for additional funding for training and development, marketing and promotion, and exhibiting the work at trade shows.
How does it all work?
In a highly innovative process, wheatgrass root is cultivated in 3D-printed templates that are then carved into beeswax. This guides the root to grow in certain patterns or shapes. In just 12 days, the roots bind into a naturally woven material, this is a great example of ‘bio-design’ and it creates a textile that is low-tech, organic, and biodegradable.
What can it be used for?
Root fibres are strong and lightweight, so can be used in lots of different crafts. Zena makes the material into lamps and sculptures for interior design, and is also exploring how it can be used in making fashion and jewellery. The root textile can also be coloured using natural dyes. Reds and oranges are created with sorghum, madder, and lac. Meanwhile, blacks can be achieved with gallnut and greens are created with chlorophyllin.
What’s next?
Root textiles can be adapted depending on the templates used to grow them, so there is always more work to be done exploring different avenues for using these methods. Zena is always looking for collaborators from the world of craft and design to discover new ways of using the materials and to help everyone to embrace more environmentally friendly materials – the possibilities are endless!
This interview was created for Making the Future — a campaign by QEST and Inspiring the Future (ran by Education and Employers). Read more about Making the Future here.
You can also listen to Zena on the Material Matters Podcast below.
