We've had the pleasure of talking to Jeanette Ramirez of The Clorofilas who created our gorgeous living wall for us. She also makes our terrariums and our hanging kokedamas. Kokedama is the Japanese art form of enclosing a plant’s root mass in moss and Kokedama literally means “moss ball”. Jeanette is extremely talented and has such a diverse knowledge of plant life and the materials she uses. It's absolutely fascinating and inspiring to meet someone so passionate and knowledgable about what they do.
PS - What inspires and influences you?
JR - Art, science, botany, architecture and Japanese garden techniques. As well as people such as Stefano Mancuso, Darwin, Roberto Burle Marx, Azuma Makoto, Sarah Illenberger, Charles Jencks, Anna Garforth, Piero Gilardi and Visiondivision Architecture Studio.
PS - What tips would you give to anyone looking to do the same as you?
JR - Hard work, good techniques and a lot of research and persistence.
PS - How did you get into your field?
JR - After years of being an artist I decided to study botany and gardening and I created the Clorofilas Creative Lab Of Plants to use vegetation as creative material.
PS - You recently created the living wall at Papersmiths. Can you tell us about how this design came about?
JR - I just wanted to make something original that I had never seen before so I made an image with digital elements and researched how to build it.
PS - What are you working on at the moment?
JR - I'm currently preparing for an exhibition in the Edwardian Cloakrooms Toilets in Clifton Bristol and some products for Clorofilas.
PS - What projects do you get most excited about?
JR - Projects with challenges and freedom, those are my most passionate.
PS - Can you explain how you go about a project and how science informs your designs?
JR - The philosophy of my work is to make the project interesting and beautiful but the most important thing is making sure that the plants have the proper environment to live in. I also use weird and different plant species, so botany is always important in my investigation. It's important for me to know how the materials and plants work together so science is always related to my projects.
PS - Which piece of work are you most proud of?
JR - This is a very difficult question! I have to say my favourite projects are my first exhibition working with plants that was called ‘Mi Casa En Maceta’. I just love it and I was very proud of ‘Moss Garden’. These two projects gave me a lot of inspiration to develop my work.
Thank you to Jeanette of The Clorofilas - Creative Lab of Plants. www.theclorofilas.net www.twigbytheclorofilas.com
