I was searching for a material that exists outside of our financial system and still provides something to people. When I came upon the stinging nettle, I was amazed at how much it offers for free: food, medicine, clothing, garden fertiliser, dye, cosmetics and incense. The nettle is an ancient plant, and its connection to humans is mentioned already in the bible.

To harvest the plants and twine the fibres, I don’t need any other tools than a knife, gloves, water, my hands and a lot of time. I then break, water, dry and peel the plant to extract the fibres, and I continue to water, card and spin the threads. This technique of crafting yarn from regional plants is thousands of years old and known in many cultures. Working with this ancient method and material today, I recreate an ancestral connection to the earth.

With Ecotechnomagic, I address our environmental issues: I suggest that a possible solution is much closer and easier available than we think, just as the nettle grows readily outside our doors. We need a shift in perspective to detect the good things already existing, like plastic degrading fungi. Environmental problems are being talked about since decades, and we have become numb towards this topic all the while it becomes more pressing. One attribute of jewellery is that it touches the wearer and is carried on the body through the day. I chose to make necklaces with stinging nettles, because I want the wearer to literally allow herself to be touched by the serious topic and to carry it with her. Even though the nettle in its dried form doesn’t sting the wearer anymore, its smell, feel and shape take up quite a presence on the wearer’s body.