Introducing the Food Forest Collection
Photo by Alexandra Rowley
I’m delighted to introduce Food Forest, a new collection of wallpapers and textiles inspired by food forest guilds, groupings of native, perennial plants that center around fruit trees to replicate sustainable ecosystems found in nature. Distinguished by plants that grow at different heights to maximize food production in contained spaces, food forests combine beauty and sustainability. With designs that feature cascading layers of flowers, foliage, and fruit- feasts for the eyes and the table- the patterns in the Food Forest collection capture the spirit of these small and mighty gardens.
Photo by Alexandra Rowley
Food Forest’s signature pattern is American Persimmon, a design inspired by a native tree of the same name that grows in the central and Eastern US and is known for its sweet, orange fruit. Featuring the American Persimmon tree, the pattern also includes an assortment of the tree’s ideal growing partners, small flowering plants such as agastache, coneflowers and yarrow. In addition, the design includes insects and birds that are drawn to the American persimmon for its flowers and fruit, such as the Eastern swallowtail butterfly and the yellow-rumped warbler.
Photo by Sabrina Hounshell
Photo by Sabrina Hounshell
On a related note, the American persimmon tree also inspired our linocut print, Possumwood.
Photo by Alexandra Rowley
Each pattern in Food Forest began as a series of pencil-sketched motifs which I organized into repeating patterns. Next, I made a print of each motif using a reduction method, a technique in which the printmaker uses the same block and removes surface area in between each printing pass. Colors layer on top of each other and proper registration ensures image integrity. Once I had completed the individual prints, I fit them back together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle into overarching repeats. The most complex design, American Persimmon, combines 15 individual linocut prints!
Photo by Sabrina Hounshell
In addition to American Persimmon, Food Forest features Buffalo Poppy, a mid-scale floral design inspired by buffalo poppy, a native flowering plant that grows in the Midwest and serves as companion plant for American persimmon trees. Buffalo Poppy is offered as a fabric and comes in two colorways: Golden and Plum. In addition, Food Forest features Leaflet, a pattern inspired by Virginia strawberry, a native strawberry plant that also keeps good company with American persimmon trees (and buffalo poppies). Leaflet mirrors the Virginia strawberry’s diminutive, tooth-edged leaves and is offered as a fabric in two colorways: Leaf Green and Tobacco.
Photo by Alexandra Rowley
For the concepts that drove the Food Forest collection, I’m indebted to Margaret Roach, whose column in New York Times In the Garden, is a must-read. I found inspiration for Food Forest in her 7/26/23 article, "Replacing Your Lawn? Instead of a Meadow, Consider a Food Forest.” Roach’s piece piqued my curiosity and led me to Michael Judd’s gardening book Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist. The book is a manual for food forest cultivation, and its irresistible subtitle says it all: “how to have your yard and eat it too.”
Order your Food Forest samples today!