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.’
Listen to the Podcast
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.”
Imogen Heap’s AI Twin!
Festival of Light
Rootfull Exhibits at London Design Festival
Rootfull exhibits with Material Matters for London Design Festival 18-21 September at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf on London's Bankside.
Rootfull wins UK Innovate research grant
Rootfull wins QEST craft scholarship
Root textile is a disruptive and exciting innovation that can shift behaviours. With this new natural fibre, maker and designer, Zena Holloway promotes deeper awareness of the materials we consume. Craft is about when and by whom something is made; how objects respond to need and most importantly the materials they are made from.
Exhibiting at Future Fabrics 2024
Ocean Talks 2024
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.
Rootfull wins Gold, Chelsea Flower Show 2024
Meet Rootfull, founded by bio-designer Zena Holloway: creating the fabric of the future from wheatgrass roots.
How, exactly? Rootfull plants the seeds on beeswax templates. As the roots grow, they bind together into a naturally woven ‘fabric’ whose properties, texture and appearance vary depending on the template used. Twelve days after planting, this root fabric is ready to be harvested. The innovation is patent-pending and combines material science coupled with creativity. Zena is able to apply this unique textile to form coral-like sculptures that spread her message about ocean conservation, beautiful lampshades, coloured with natural dyes and artistic jewellery as well as clothing
Surface Design Awards 2024
Texture and pattern offer a gateway into the natural world, harnessing natural materials and textures to evolve a sense of well-being at Surface Design Show 2024
Future Heritage
Future Heritage has a track record for spotting the next big thing. The work is thoughtfully and rigorously executed with makers pushing their chosen material or process in new directions.
Mills Fabrica
The Mills Fabrica was set up to create positive social impact for future generations with like-minded entrepreneurs and strategic partners. They focus on incubating and investing in sustainable innovations and building an international community of innovators, entrepreneurs and visionaries.
Future Fabrics
Rootfull exhibits at the Future Fabrics Expo 2023. Showcasing material solutions that sensitize visitors to new and extraordinary alternatives to plastic.
Silver at Chelsea
Root dress wins silver medal at Chelsea Flower Show 2023
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.
Gardens Illustrated
An artist’s Feature for Gardens Illustrated Magazine - for insights into the world's most inspiring gardens, irresistible plants and advice from leading designers and garden makers.
Collect Craft
The leading international Fair for Contemporary Craft and Design. SOMERSET HOUSE, LONDON 03-05 MAR 2023
Gallery 57
Gallery 57 selects artists whose working methods have a more unusual approach to materials and techniques. By placing importance on how work is displayed and given space, it creates the calm aesthetic for which the gallery has become known.
Groundwork Gallery
Deepwater looks at the dangers under deep water. It shows some of the passionate concerns of artists about eco-systems and species which are under mounting pressure.