When did you decide to pick up this craft?
My second year at Chelsea College of Arts when we were working on a sustainability project. I started reading about natural dyes, I was experimenting with kitchen waste and flowers, leaves from my small Brixton garden…I absolutely fell in love with the colours, how they were matching.
How do you combine tradition and innovation in your work?
Everything I learnt at university and while travelling is incorporated in all of the items I make: dyeing recipes, traditional Laotian weaving patterns, Vietnamese embroidery, Japanese Sashiko…However, I use them in an innovative way, using these techniques to create something modern.
©Ioanna Morfinou
How is your craft linked to your homeland?
Greece used to have a lot of weavers and natural dyers around the country. Unfortunately, these crafts are disappearing. I learnt weaving and natural dyeing in the United Kingdom and South East Asia, but now that I am back in Greece, I am planning to visit villages to meet women who naturally dye.
How would you define what you do?
Choosing to work in a “slow” manner is really important to me. I believe in “slow design” and “emotionally durable design”. I love creating unique pieces that can become loving heirlooms and something that will be passed on. I want my clients to have a relationship with the item they buy.