Rooted in Landscape

PK’s path into natural dyeing began a few years ago, sparked by a colleague’s research into colonial horticulture and the practice of printing plants on paper with graphite and linseed oil. “Printing plants on fabric was my leap,” she shares. Though trained as an architect, PK has always held a passion for gardens and landscapes. While teaching at the University of Virginia, she was influenced by Thomas Jefferson’s legacy and the deep relationship between buildings and the land around them. Today, as a faculty member at Drexel University, she continues to explore this connection, weaving her architectural background into her fabric work.

The Beauty of Serendipity

Natural dyeing and eco-printing are complex and methodical, yet PK embraces the unpredictable. “While some fabric artists may strive for predictability and photographic-like results, I often prefer the messiness of serendipity,” she explains. Plants shift with the seasons, water changes in Ph, fabric reacts to wetness and salts, and every factor shapes the outcome. The result is work that feels alive, each piece a living record of its moment.

Inspirations in Nature and Beyond

PK draws inspiration from an expansive online community of eco-printing artists, and mentors like Jane Goodall of The Beautiful Leaf in Cambridge, UK, with whom she studied in Mexico last fall. Architecture, with its patterns, rhythms, and hierarchies, also informs her practice. Yet her deepest muse is the natural world itself. “I see and appreciate the nature around me with a greater intensity,” she says. The landscapes of Philadelphia, from Bartram’s Garden to the community spaces tended by the Horticultural Society, are constant sources of wonder and delight.

Experience PK Flora at Moon+Arrow

We invite you to explore PK Flora’s work at Moon+Arrow this month. Her naturally dyed silk scarves embody a conversation between architecture and ecology, discipline and chance, craft and wild beauty. Each piece offers not just a glimpse of fabric transformed, but a reminder to notice the ever-changing, ever-giving nature all around us.