The Lichen Likers had the opportunity to invite Lichen enthusiast, and Ohio University MFA candidate, Alex Buchan to lead a collaborative workshop centered around living wearables. Alex shared his innovative techniques to incorporate plants into garments that don’t just hold life but are able to actively keep plants alive.
Alex has a background in sculpture and aims to utilize waste materials and discarded items. For our workshop, we repurposed trash bags to be an impermeable layer to our clothes and burlap sacks as the breathable cloth for our foliage. Reimagining the possibilities of these materials, gave way to consider other alternative materials such as scrap fabric, commercial waste, and even food scraps. Many participants thought of unique ways to show off their plant life. Some construction methods include skirts, tops, bags, vests, and ties. During this workshop there was a collaborative nature of learning, participants and instructors alike were able to take away new ideas while sharing helpful tips and tricks.
Overall, I learned a lot from this workshop and I hope to make more iterations of living garments as I experiment with this medium. During this most recent session, I made a burlap/fabric top that holds micro-greens and a few propagated leaves. The plants inside the shirt are sprouting slowly but I enjoy seeing my design grow and change with the living elements.
