Natural flooring brand Crucial Trading (a much-valued GREEN GRADS sponsor) commissioned Talking Textiles, an eye-opening exhibition by six GREEN GRADS, at Crucial Trading’s glamorous showroom in the Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour, for four days at the end of February

This was the first time we have curated a show specifically for a single sponsor. We chose graduates that demonstrate a common commitment to sustainable design and production, expressed in intriguingly different ways, such as spotlighting natural fibres, dyes and biomaterials, cutting waste, water and energy and creative use of waste.

Scarlett Farrer’s Field to Fabric cloths were hand-spun and hand-woven from natural wool; and Jaime Cura stitched fabric scraps into elegant furnishings. Sustainability champion Joanna O’Rourke amazed with abstracts inspired by the biodiversity of the marshes around her Norfolk home, whilst Jess Kirkpatrick shared secrets of natural dyes. Yahvi Duggal introduced her biomaterials, and Sofia Barbé celebrated natural fibres with quirky needle-felted wall hangings. The GREEN GRADS also took part in a day of demonstrations organised by the Design Centre in their Arcade on the ground floor.