Processing the way our lives had transformed in the years that followed the pandemic certainly left me concluding that my life had moved both more inwards and more outwards. More inwards in terms of more domestic but more outwards in terms of suburban, being closer to nature and in the vastness of nature, spending time further away from the city and so on. This closer contact with country life {in Aegina} inspired me to create this collection designed for the great outdoors and indoors in terms of combining comfort, practicality and conceptual design. This collection seeks to ‘merge’ with nature in the most wearable way.

 

I continue to explore gender fluidity {as was explored in Wear your Beliefs} by looking at bird species {found in Greece and|or Cyprus} where the male and female animals differ, using the gender designs in nature to inspire the collection particularly the material palette and textile manipulation. Species looked at are: the Northern Pintail {Σουβλονούρα}, Common Chaffinch {Σπίνος}, Common Linnet {Τσακροσγάρτιλο}, Dead Sea Sparrow {Στρούθος}, Western Capercaillie {Αγριόκουρκος} and Black Francolin {Φραγκολίνα}.

 

As a mechanism for designing, following on from Time to Re-build I have continued to use a linear principle as a guiding concept. Where in Time to Re-build the line acted as a dividing and transformative line between varying textiles and positive and negative spaces {solids and voids}; in Ornithes the line defines form and is often transformative, moving between 2D and 3D. Rather than being sculptural in a deconstructivst sense as in Time to Re-build, the line here explores 3D form, seeking how line can define and transform form, ranging from structured to fluid.