A world consumed by flora is a bizarrely familiar and yet alien concept. Inspired by the interaction between plants and modern technology, ‘Sophia’ was created.

On a trip to New York, amongst many vast and inspiring sites, we became strangely and utterly fascinated by air conditioning units. Hooked onto buildings and protruding like bizarre futuristic limpets, we started to think about what types of plants could possibly survive in this air conditioned environment.

As it happens, we weren’t the only people to wonder – NASA produced a piece of research all about it: Interior Landscape Plants for Indoor Air Pollution Abatement (1989) fuelled our inspiration. 

For the design, we conceptualised deconstructing an air-con unit, and having it overrun by plants. By researching plants that live well in the enclosed space of a terrarium, we decided to build one and then attached parts of our dismantled air-con unit. Thus, ‘Sophia’ was born with reference to the fact that plants thrive under musical vibration. 

The shape of the terrarium influenced the angular garments we made to accentuate the idea. Photographs of the air-con unit terrarium design evolved into a deeply coloured, prism-printed bodysuit. Angles, deep greens and the juxtaposition of nature and machine are encapsulated in this collection.

Behind The Scenes