Shannon Clegg

London based Shannon Clegg looks to innovate traditional craft processes to create objects that connect people to nature. She grew up amongst the flora of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa where she trained as a tailor. After a brief stint in fashion, she realised she had “issues with the ethics of production in the industry” so packed her bags for London, hoping to discover different contexts for making. She went on to study BA in Contemporary Crafts at Falmouth University in Cornwall and MA in Product and Furniture Design at Kingston University in London. She was selected for artist-in-residence schemes at Newcastle University and the Next Move Scheme – funded by the Crafts Council. Alongside her studio practice, she teaches and has exhibited widely.

Inspired by the traditional craft technique of 2D flower pressing she developed a unique method to three-dimensionally form flower material into elegant, standalone vase-like sculptures.

The hand moulding process she developed allows her to press flowers into a variety of 3D, vase-like sculptures, which she calls ‘Bouquet’. The technique involves handmaking moulds that are used to shape the plant material over several weeks. Shannon has also worked out a process to help retain the flower’s colour and shape. The final forms, natural, vase-shaped sculptures made from a delicate lattice of stems and petals, will last for several years.

It started with a scruffy old wooden flower press abandoned at a London car boot market for a bargain of £1. The lucky find was pocketed and rehomed in Shannon’s London studio where it was deconstructed to explore a new way of working the traditional 2D craft technique of pressing flowers. To further develop the process, she based her research at The Herbarium at The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, looking through archival methods for storing pressed flowers from around the world and the tools and equipment used by their botanists to collect and press flowers.

The unique hand process developed enables flowers to be pressed three-dimensionally. Her flower sculptures look to biophilic design, which reflects the human desire to connect with nature. The Bouquet’s connection to season and place through the visual experience of flowers helps satisfy this desire by bringing natural wildness into one’s home.

Next of Europe Exhibition