A natural dye studio blog talking about - Art + fashion using natural dye + botanical colour.
From the studio No.41
The Serpentine Gallery Summer Party is THE event on the art calendar.
Photographer and film maker Mark Lebon, known for his boundary breaking fashion photography in the 1980's and 90's, wears a commissioned SARAH POLAND kilt to the Serpentine Gallery Summer Party 2025.
The Serpentine Gallery Summer Party is THE event on the art calendar.
Photographer and film maker Mark Lebon, known for his boundary breaking fashion photography in the 1980's and 90's, wears a commissioned SARAH POLAND kilt to the Serpentine Gallery Summer Party 2025.
I met Mark originally back in 1998 when I was a stylist's assistant on a fashion shoot for iD magazine. We shot at Marks's super cool West London studio.
I met up with him again last year and gave a gift of a natural dyed piece of artwork. He commissioned me to make it into a kilt, non-conforming and deconstructed of course, I painted it, natural dyed it, made sock flashes and a kilt pin badge using off-cuts and thread-ends. He wore it this summer to both the opening event of Serpentine Gallery Summer Party AND Graces Mews Gallery launch (founded by his son, photographer Tyrone Lebon) in South London .
I’ve got an exciting collaboration happening with Mark too.
All will be revealed in time…
My best,
Sarah x
From the studio No.40
A SHORT INTRODUCTORY VIDEO ABOUT MY JOURNEY TO START A NATURAL DYED, LIMITED EDITION, UK MADE CLOTHING BRAND, PLUS A DIP INTO THE REGENERATIVE DYE GARDEN.
The why and what SARAH POLAND Art | Fashion is about and stands for as a clothing brand with sustainability and ethics at its core, with zero waste, circular design principles.
A SHORT INTRODUCTORY VIDEO ABOUT SARAH POLAND, A NATURAL DYED, LIMITED EDITION, UK MADE CLOTHING BRAND.
PLUS A DIP INTO THE REGENERATIVE DYE GARDEN.
The why and what SARAH POLAND Art | Fashion is about and what it stands for as a clothing brand with sustainability and ethics at its core, with zero waste, circular design principles.
It takes time to refine and articulate what a brand is about.
From looking after the soil and the people who tend it, to growing crops for textiles, to natural dyeing with no toxic waste, ethically manufacturing in the UK, to the wearer and the life of the garment with the possibility reinvigorate by offering a repair and re-dye service, to its end-of-life composted back into the soil to support healthy new growth.
Circular design.
Zero waste.
Non toxic.
No over production.
Hand crafted.
Made with care and quality in the UK.
Chic, wearable, fashion conscious natural dyed clothing.
See also:
Thank you for following my journey,
My best,
Sarah x
From the studio No.38
In the studio, this year for me is all about getting out there - gaining visibility, collaboration and well, just keeping on keeping on.
This month and probably next month too, will be a creative time. For many years I’ve wanted to create my own wardrobe, wear mostly my own designs.
You could call it a capsule collection, perhaps a mini collection, I’m just going to call it a wardrobe for now.
In the studio, this year for me is all about getting out there - gaining visibility, collaboration and well, just keeping on keeping on.
This month and probably next month too, will be a creative time. For many years I’ve wanted to create my own wardrobe, wear mostly my own designs.
You could call it a capsule collection, perhaps a mini collection, I’m just going to call it a wardrobe for now.
I’ve been working on the website this month too and have added a new page WHAT IS NATURAL DYE.
So if you’d like to know more about what they are, where they come from, a little history and some images of the plants, dye extracts and natural dyed cloth, click the link.
My mission this year is to get better at creating blogs and write about the wonderful qualities and beauty of natural dyes - it’s all about visibility and letting people know what I’m up to.
But for now, here’s a bit of fun with some contact sheets. I tried each jacket on…on top of the other, size 8 to 16…I couldn’t quite fit the 16 on too!
The background painting was made during an artist residency at G.S. Artists in 2019. Made using oak gall ink on raw cotton canvas, 3x4m, painted with a soft house broom and a child’s broom.
During the residency my 1.5 year old daughter would often join me, and I would put inks on her tricycle to make her own paintings, and create mine with her BRRM BRRMING around.
Perhaps they were mother and daughter brooms too?
My best,
Sarah x
From the studio No. 37
On Wed 6th Nov 2024, SUSTAINABLE FASHION WEEK hosted an event at Bristol Cathedral called FASHION ON EARTH. Invited to take part, I showcased a natural dyed corduroy bomber jacket in 5 different colours with a few one-off pieces, including a natural dyed painted kilt. Raven Roundwood Timber Frames, created a stunning exhibition stand for my natural dyed, hanging canvas installation backdrop.
We’ve come to the end of the year again and I’d like to wish you a Merry Christmas on this shortest day, from deepest darkest drizzly West Wales.
It is the Winter Solstice - Embrace the dark and carry the light.
It’s been a great year in the SARAH POLAND studio, not without it’s hurdles and losses. I’ve worked hard on building a natural dyed clothing brand and am looking forward to next year - I have a few exciting projects in the pipeline, including a natural dye collaboration and plan to get out and show at various events, including the Frome Independent Market.
I’d love to see you out there somewhere.
Building my website, brand and getting the Ande Bomber ready to launch have been some highlights.
The website has lots of new pages to view - Why I Natural Dye Clothing, Why I Make Clothes In The UK, Zero Waste and Meet The Designer. I also have Archive pages of paintings and prints from over the years.
Exhibition wise it was really exciting to get in to the Royal Scottish Academy AND sell my painting (below). The VAS 100 (Visual Arts Scotland) centenary exhibition did look fantastic in the hallowed halls of the RSA.
Prosodic Chapters Of Immanent Silence.
Oak gall ink on traditional gesso on birch ply panel.
60 x 91cm.
There’s so much to do to start a business, it isn’t just make some stuff and sell it to a shop anymore! To sell online you need all sorts of things in place, a website, branding (plus a rebrand, thanks J.D. Sports!), a privacy policy, a returns policy, product pages, selling paypoint, good photography, GDPR…the list goes on…and on. Put on the spot, I can’t even remember half of it. Responsible, ethical sourcing is BIG.
As I mentioned before, the hurdle to rebrand away from SONNET by Sarah Poland, because of JD Sports’ interference, has taken up some time. I am glad to have fully embraced the change and am going with simply my name, SARAH POLAND. I now have a new logo, garment label and event sign. The website merge with my artist site will take some time, it’s tricky - trying not to over complicate it.
Any thoughts are most welcome.
Here is my new branding:
My time mentoring on the year long course at Newlyn School of Art this year was so fun, finding myself working beside old peers from my time in Cornwall was a joy and taking part in their tutors exhibition an honour.
Fashion On Earth, Bristol Cathedral with Sustainable Fashion Week UK was a blast and what a deadline to work towards! Thanks to Sustainable Studio in Cardiff and St. John’s Hall in Bath for giving me space.
Thanks too to Helen Manley-Jones at Yr Oriel in Newport, Pembrokeshire for always showing my work.
A new gallery who has taken on my Moon Drawing, photographic and oak gall work, is Tides Gallery in Swansea and their new showcase space, Tides Uplands.
Here are some glimpses from throughout the year.
Thank you for following my journey.
Wishing you a warm winter holiday filled with love and friendship.
Keep in touch, my best,
Sarah x
Inspired by 1950s coffee culture (think Beat Generation), 90s London + an inner rock chick fused with the colours of natural dyes.
Coffee bar, intimate gig + cocktail cool, with quality + sustainability at its core.
from the studio No. 34
On Wed 6th Nov 2024, SUSTAINABLE FASHION WEEK hosted an event at Bristol Cathedral called FASHION ON EARTH. Invited to take part, I showcased a natural dyed corduroy bomber jacket in 5 different colours with a few one-off pieces, including a natural dyed painted kilt. Raven Roundwood Timber Frames, created a stunning exhibition stand for my natural dyed, hanging canvas installation backdrop.
On Wednesday 6th November, SUSTAINABLE FASHION WEEK hosted an event at Bristol Cathedral called FASHION ON EARTH. They invited me to take part in this exciting event which included a catwalk performance, makers market, exhibited pieces, live music plus other stalls including the Soil Association and GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard). It is an opportunity to discover some of the artists, makers and organisations working towards a better fashion future.
It’s going to be a really exciting event, not in the least, because artist Luke Gerram has created a large installation titled Gaia, a to scale, glowing sculpture of our planet Earth. It looks incredible and I can’t wait to see it. Gaia will hover above the catwalk.
I worked incredibly hard to get work ready for this event and it will be the first public viewing of SARAH POLAND the natural dyed, limited edition, UK made clothing brand. A launch of sorts.
I showcased a natural dyed corduroy bomber jacket in five different colours with a few one-off pieces - skirts and a kilt made from painted art pieces.
Sustainable Fashion Week UK says - 'The backdrop of Luke Gerram’s ‘Gaia’ serves as a provoking reminder of the interconnectedness of all life on earth. As with any resources our society consumes, the clothing and materials we wear and dispose of have a significant impact on planetary health’.
Launching the
Ande Bomber.
NATURAL DYED.
MADE IN THE UK.
MADE TO ORDER = NO SURPLUS, NO WASTE.
A natural dyed, limited edition, chunky corduroy bomber jacket. Lined in luxurious organic bamboo silk, five beautiful plant based colours to choose from, with contrasting coloured rib and a cheeky puff sleeve, corozo nut buttons and helping to clear plastic out of the environment, with a recycled plastic Vislon zip.
Lush.
Photography: Trevor Carty @tippee68
They also invited me to display one of my art pieces as a backdrop for my stall. My husband, Ben Duckworth, who runs Raven Roundwood Timber Frames, created a stunning exhibition stand for me using larch, oak, and bog oak. The natural beauty of the stand complemented my work perfectly and looked breathtaking in the cathedral's magnificent setting. It was a wonderful opportunity to showcase a large piece in such an awe-inspiring space.
A detail from Sarah Poland’s natural dyed hanging canvas installation Forest, displayed during her 2023 solo exhibition at Elysium Gallery in Swansea UK. The piece here uses madder, weld, chestnut and iron to naturally dye and paint on organic cotton canvas.
Gaia, by Luke Jerram 2024
We are critically disconnected from our clothing, how it is made, it’s natural source and the many hands each garment passes through before it reaches us. All the resources that clothe our bodies come from this Earth and how we choose to care for and use such resources plays a significant role in planetary health.
All clothing comes from the land. Farmed, grown, extracted, picked and cut - your clothing begins in the ground and should return to the soil at the end of its life-cycle.
FASHION on EARTH invites you to reflect on the relationship you have with your own clothing; to consider how connected you feel to the place and natural resources that are intrinsically linked to the garments you wear; and to imagine a fashion production future wholly connected to and respectful of the natural world.
Join us on Wednesday 6th November 2024 for a night exploring fashion that is created in harmony with nature.
Sustainable Fashion Week UK
Inspired by 1950s coffee culture (think Beat Generation), 90s London + an inner rock chick fused with the colours of natural dyes.
Coffee bar, intimate gig + cocktail cool, with quality + sustainability at its core.
From the studio No.33
In a David and Goliath scenario, I’ve been pressured into changing my natural dyed clothing brand name (before it’s even launched).
We hear about insecure, avaricious big companies working to squeeze out independents, putting pressure on them in some way with their big buck budgets.
Well, they object to my use of the word sonnet in the name SONNET by Sarah Poland.
So…I’ve got some news…an update from the previous excitement!
I’ve had a logo made to my design, a sign, woven clothing labels, business cards and bought domain names for SONNET by Sarah Poland.
However, in a David and Goliath scenario, I’ve been pressured into changing my natural dyed clothing brand name (before it’s even launched).
We hear about insecure, avaricious big companies working to squeeze out independents, putting pressure on them in some way with their big buck budgets.
Well, they object to my use of the word sonnet in the name SONNET by Sarah Poland.
It’s JD Sports. They have an in-house, fast fashion, sports wear line who use virgin plastic (polyester) and high production.
It’s called Sonneti.
They’re not using the word sonnet and there are no similarities between our brands or our ideas.
Yet they are able to set out a list of restrictions. However, I refuse to adhere to this bullying tactic.
I’ve had to take down my SONNET by Sarah Poland website and social media accounts …or they might get heavy.
It’s a pain and has cost me a lot development time and money, including buying domain names, woven garment labels, a sign, plus I hired a graphic designer to make the logo to my specification.
So I’ve rebranded to just my name, and I’m getting used to it already. I will see that there is a silver lining, and with both websites merging on to sarahpoland.com, art and fashion will be in the same place.
As an artist and designer, my painting and clothing design do relate to each other, and they both use colours extracted from plants, so perhaps it is for the better and the story continues...
SARAH POLAND - Natural dyed, UK made, limited edition clothing, will embody slow fashion at it’s best.
Inspired by 1950s coffee culture (think Beat Generation), 90s London, an inner rock chick fused with the colours of natural dyes.
Coffee bar, intimate gig + cocktail cool, with quality + sustainability at its core.