Threaded Remnants & Cultivated Vessel: Embracing Organic Decay in Sustainable Art

Creating Threaded Remnants and Cultivated Vessel was an intricate journey into the potential of organic materials to serve as both medium and message. These two works are deeply connected in their use of natural, biodegradable materials, but each presents its own textures, structural challenges, and ideas on sustainable design.

1. Threaded Remnants

Threaded Remnants is an exploration of organic waste materials and their transformation into a delicate, interconnected form. By using an array of natural textures, bound with thread and suspended in agar-based molds, I aimed to capture the lifecycle of everyday materials and reimagine waste as art.

Process & Techniques

• Material Selection: I began with ground coffee, matcha, and tea leaves—materials chosen not only for their vibrant textures but also for their symbolic transformation from consumables to art. Each material has its own unique texture and weight, which presented different challenges in handling and casting.

• Creating the Agar Mixture: The core binding agent in this piece is agar, a biodegradable gel derived from algae. I mixed agar with water, glycerin, and vinegar to create a malleable, eco-friendly material. Glycerin adds flexibility, while vinegar prevents brittleness, but finding the perfect balance was challenging. Too much glycerin made the mixture too soft, while too little led to cracking as it dried.

• Molding & Setting: Each mixture was poured into laser-cut molds approximately 15 x 20 cm, allowing the biomaterials to set in structured shapes. As the agar mixture cooled and set, it began to reveal intricate textures from the coffee, matcha, and tea, creating a rich tapestry of color and form.

• Assembling with Wire & Thread: Once the pieces were set, I carefully removed them from the molds and attached them to a delicate wire frame with red thread. The thread, acting like veins, weaves through each piece, symbolizing the connectivity of everyday remnants. Working with these fragile pieces was difficult—the agar molds were prone to tearing under tension, requiring gentle handling and strategic placement of thread to avoid breaking.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges was maintaining the structural integrity of the agar-based molds. The mix had to be soft enough to capture the texture of the biomaterials but stable enough to hold shape and withstand movement. Even slight variations in glycerin and vinegar proportions altered the durability of each mold, requiring multiple attempts to find the right formula. Attaching each delicate piece to the wire frame with thread was another complex task, as the thread needed to hold each piece firmly without causing damage.

Reflection on Texture & Potential Uses

The final texture is both delicate and organic, with a tactile quality that invites interaction. The combination of earthy hues and translucent, gel-like surfaces gives the piece an ephemeral beauty, capturing nature’s impermanence. This material has potential in sustainable design as a biodegradable textile, wall covering, or even packaging for temporary installations. Its unique aesthetic and environmentally-friendly composition make it suitable for projects that aim to emphasize ecological consciousness and the natural lifecycle of materials.

2. Cultivated Vessel

Cultivated Vessel serves as a functional art piece, utilizing organic materials and natural dyes to create a biodegradable form that celebrates the beauty of decay. This piece complements Threaded Remnants by exploring similar themes but with a focus on creating something that could be used as a vessel, merging aesthetics with practicality.

Process & Techniques

• Canvas Preparation: I started with an organic canvas base, which was first soaked in a heated mixture of starch and water. The heat helped the starch adhere to the canvas fibers, adding stiffness and structure. After soaking, I baked the canvas to further stabilize it, creating a strong base that could hold shape while still feeling natural.

• Agar, Vinegar, and Glycerin Bath: Once the canvas was sturdy enough, I immersed it in a secondary solution made of agar, vinegar, glycerin, and water. This bath helped reinforce the canvas’s flexibility and resistance to tearing, while also adding a subtle gloss to its surface. The vinegar and glycerin played essential roles here, as too much vinegar made the canvas brittle, while too much glycerin made it overly pliable.

• Coloration with Natural Dyes: To bring out earthy tones, I used coffee and Oolong tea to dye the canvas. The coffee created warm, rich browns, while the Oolong tea added lighter, textured stains that enhanced the organic appearance. These dyes, being natural, fade gradually over time, reinforcing the concept of ephemerality in this piece.

Challenges

Achieving a balance in texture and strength was the biggest challenge in creating Cultivated Vessel. The initial starch mixture had to be applied evenly for uniform stiffness, which required careful monitoring while baking to prevent scorching. In the agar bath, slight miscalculations in the vinegar-glycerin ratio made the canvas either too fragile or too floppy, demanding precise adjustments. Another challenge was in dyeing; natural dyes are often unpredictable, and achieving consistent coloration required multiple experiments with concentration and soak time.

Reflection on Texture & Potential Uses

The final texture of Cultivated Vessel is soft yet structured, with a tactile quality that invites handling. The piece’s surface has an intriguing blend of smooth and slightly rough patches from the natural dyes, giving it an earthy, handcrafted feel. This material could be explored further for use in sustainable design, particularly as a biodegradable container or decorative element for temporary installations. Its natural coloration and ability to decompose align with eco-friendly practices, suggesting a path forward for sustainable art and design where materials are meant to be appreciated in their natural cycle, rather than preserved indefinitely.

Reflections on Sustainable Art Practices

Creating Threaded Remnants and Cultivated Vessel taught me to work in harmony with natural materials, allowing them to guide the form and function of each piece. Both works highlight the beauty of impermanence, challenging the notion that art must be preserved eternally to be meaningful. These pieces instead celebrate the ephemeral—reminding us that materials, like nature, have their own cycles of use, decay, and rebirth.

In reflecting on these experiments, I see potential for organic, biodegradable materials in art and design, particularly for projects centered on sustainability. These works invite viewers to question what they perceive as waste, encouraging them to see beauty in the discarded and to value the transient. By engaging with organic matter in this way, I hope to contribute to a growing dialogue on art that leaves minimal environmental impact, offering an aesthetic that embraces decay as much as creation.