Following a recent trip to Tokyo, designer Heather Moore’s eyes were opened to the importance of plants in the city environment. Inspired by her surroundings, and a heightened awareness of the relationship between concrete spaces and urban foliage, she set to work on a new Skinny laMinx fabric collection entitled Paradise is Here.
“Plants in a city, especially one as vast and populated as Tokyo, are essential to softening the concrete edges, sending us sensory messages about the seasons, joyousness, and wildness that urban humans crave,” explains Moore. “The row of potplants outside a store, or the carefully-trimmed shrub on a sidewalk also speak of the values of the people who care for those plants.”
Her designs are graphic abstraction of leaves, seeds and cityscapes. Palms feature frequently in the new patterns with the Zig Zag design referencing a palm poking through a garden fence, while Palmetto and Fronds draw on shapes of palm leaves.
The fourth design in the collection, Airborne, is reminiscent of leaves or seeds floating over a city grid, rendered in Skinny laMinx's typical 50s-inspired pattern style.
Moore teams soft greys, pistachio green and nutty neutrals with acid yellow and brilliant green, adding just a dash of bright orange.
Paradise is Here expresses the energy and exuberance of city plants, and how they afford us respite, escape, encouragement and an opportunity for expression.