Knitting Soil: a unique design project
The descriptive library showing the variety of cores, using the Munsell Colour System.
Knitting Soil: a unique design project about the Mulloon floodplain.
A hydrologist, a GIS specialist, a landscape planner and 6 designers walked into a bar...
What is this gorgeous, tactile object? It’s a soil library and textile model illustrating the sedimentary layers of the Mulloon floodplain. It’s the outcome of our ongoing relationship with ANU School of Art & Design (thanks lecturer Naomi Hay!), and the creative brainwork of students Laura D’Arcy, Jiaming Zhao, Ankita Unnikrishnan, Mia Garland, Duncan Currie and Yasmina Muldoon.
The Mulloon research team provided the students with data from four soil core samples ranging from 4.5 to 30 metres deep, and GIS information about the full monitoring transect. We also hosted the students at the farm, where they witnessed our research in action and gathered native plants, which they later used to dye the knitted fabrics. The originality of this crafty object has taken us all by surprise: what a way to share the story of floodplain geology, geomorphic history and water storage capacity!
This project shows that when imaginative students are given the opportunity to engage with live scientific inquiry, beautiful things happen. It certainly breaks down barriers between disciplines, knowledge-holders and the public. The designers and artists we work with at Mulloon are opening the door to a much wider community participating in the science of land restoration and climate change adaptation – we love it.
Thank you to the design team, and to lecturer Naomi Hay, for your inspiring contribution to our work at Mulloon Institute!
(Click on the images below to see them in larger format)
