Food, Dyes, and Storytelling

Annelotte Lammertse and myself organised a two part workshop for the first-year Textile Design students of LUCA School of Arts. Together with the students, we explored the ingredients growing in the Common Terre garden in Ter Beken: woad, yarrow, sorrel, chamomile, Jerusalem artichoke and rhubarb. We examined the relationship of the ingredients relating to history, symbolism and etymology. In doing so, we looked at how the plants are connected to each other through the different ways they can be used: medicinal, in food production, and colours. We harvested the ingredients and naturally dyed textiles with these ingredients.

In the second part of the workshop, we cooked from the garden: a sorrel soup (schav), Jerusalem artichoke soup, wild garlic pesto, and rhubarb compote. We asked the students to write short stories about their research on the ingredients. With the naturally dyed textiles, we created a patchwork that was used in a table scenography, where we shared the food and stories around the table.