Interwoven – a story of people, plants and community

In a garden, nothing exists alone. Beneath our feet, roots thread through the soil, mycelium networks stretching far and wide, sharing vital water, energy and nutrients. Plants are whispering to each other, sending signals through these veins of worries, of wants, of needs. Above, insects scuttle between flowers, hands move between beds, stories weave between people. 

In our primary school sessions at the Paper Garden, children have been exploring the theme of Interwoven. This began by hearing a story that took them back hundreds and thousands of years, to the land of the hairy people. The hairy people kept losing hair on different parts of their body and were having a difficult time trying to keep warm! They searched for different natural materials on the forest floor to try and stick onto them, but nothing ever worked. The story ends with the birds, the best weavers of them all, teaching the hairy people how to weave together materials, and was the beginning of how humans made clothes. 

The Generators, Global Generation’s young people, and Bertha Earth’s ambassadors, then got the opportunity to ‘become’ the hairy people and had a go at their very own weaving. Every person worked on their own mini loom and had an abundance of fabrics and materials to choose from, from old bed sheets to second hand clothes. The young people learnt the skill of weaving under and over each bit of string, to create a small square of woven together materials. It wasn’t possible to finish off one square all by themselves, so this became a collaborative project, where each piece was woven together with many hands and minds!

Pictured here are cardboard looms, the finished weaves taken off and cleared up

The young people had to take their time to weave the materials through, making sure not to pull too tight, as it would warp the fabric into a funny shape. They enjoyed the part of ‘combing down’ the woven parts, to make sure the weave became tight enough so there wasn’t lots of holes. 

After the individual looms had been filled, the woven squares were removed from the looms and tied up to keep the materials in place. Then, one by one, each square was sewn together, creating one, big, patchwork tapestry. 

This was displayed at the Paper Garden winter celebration last December, alongside many other fantastic pieces created from our other programmes!

Interwoven Tapestry

Alongside the fabric weaving, children and young people were invited to weave natural, foraged material from the garden onto two big looms. During the abundant summer and autumn, plants were chopped down, saved and dried, and other exciting materials were foraged and collected. We had a mixture of media from mugwort, sunflowers, pea vine and Malabar spinach to bark, feathers and wool! The young people were encouraged to look at the natural weaving done so far and think about what textures or materials it was missing or needed next. We think the textures and final pieces are amazing!

When we look at these final pieces, we are reminded of the hundreds of different children, hands and minds that have woven together the materials. We think of the stories of the materials - where they came from and what they were before. We think of the people who have created these bed sheets and clothes before us, and the stories they carry. We think of the hairy people, whom without, we may still be clothes-less, cold and lacking the skill we carry and cherish today! We think of the thousands of insects, worms, woodlice, nourishing our soil and helping the plants and flowers to grow.

In the world, nothing exists alone. Everything is a product of people, plants, communities working together, nourishing each other to grow. 

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Notes from the Garden