About
Plants have been here forever. Before us. They are intelligent, able to adapt and carry each their role in the eco system. Otherwise they wouldn’t be here. They also hold each their specific qualities when we need to convert the plants into useful tools, products or food.
We rely on them. Never the less most of us have very little insight in the production process of the items we use every day. In general we consume without any idea about how things are made and this is understandable because it all happens far away and for generations we have not depended on our nearby surroundings to enrich us with crops or other useful materials.
So we do not need to know how things are made. Knowledge about cultivation, harvest methods, craft, tools and the time and energy invested in the full process is not important. The materials will occur on our door step anyway.
The long distance and the lack of confrontation is the key here. If we do not have the process and the materials up close we cannot make informed choices or start thinking solutions. It is as simple as that. It is to me anyway and how this project started.
I explore how plants and plant fibers can be used, aesthetically and functionally with different purposes in product design, architecture and decorative art. In this Encyclopedia the focus is to share quality visual material for you to experience the plant fibers a bit closer.
Working as a designer for almost 15 years I want to gain much more knowledge about the sustainable and degradable materials. Trying to get my hands on freshly harvested plants was not easy unless I visited each different factory or farmer. A few suppliers asked how many containers of raw, sun dried fibers I wanted to purchase. The rest ignored me.
It took me nearly a year to collect the plant fibers I have so far and from there I started exploring the dried or processed plants in order to get familiar with the materials.
In October 2020 I exhibited all the plant fibers in various stages of industrial processing together with my own material experiments at Bygning A, an exhibition space in Copenhagen. The process has been ongoing since then.
Phytophilia.dk is an extension of this work because I want to share my knowledge. Hopefully you can skip some steps and save some time. I have tried to create a precise and manageable description of each plant enough to navigate towards better solutions and hopefully implement the plant materials even more in our future products, buildings and our lives. At the same time we can share knowledge and ensure that old techniques and multigenerational practices is not erased over time.
How to tackle the environmental issues is a complex matter but it is also very simple. We need to understand that we origin from nature and our behavior has an impact. Instead of draining the resources we have been given we have to leave a positive mark. When we gain back some basic knowledge about the nature we start to appreciate the plants and from here a good process will start. This is my opinion anyway.
You will find high-quality photos of each plant and material in this Encyclopedia and I promise more plants will be added over time.
Please reach out if you are a botanist, a geologist, biologist, or work with plant science. Maybe you find some of my information mistaken or would like to add further information. I would like to hear from you in both cases.
If you would like to donate raw plant material or fibers please also reach out. I will make new photos and add more information occasionally.
I hope you will find this Encyclopedia useful.
Yours sincerely,
Sara Martinsen
Thank you to Statens Kunstfond, Boligfonden Kuben and Danmarks Nationalbanks Jubilæumsfond for supporting this project.
Thank you to Alabama Plant Atlas, Florida Plant Atlas, Plants Of the World Online, and Havnens Hænder for letting me borrow extra material.
All photos by Kristian Holm
“We are raised and educated to believe in the importance of leaving a mark. When in fact we need to leave zero and nothing. This is where the plant fibers become relevant. They can vanish and degrade.”
PHYTOPHILIA is a beautiful and inspiring material library with plant fibers.
