Rachael Colley
Rachael creates objects and wearables which are explored in experimental dining events, exhibitions and visual art projects.
Contact
United Kingdom
About
Rachael is an artist and doctorial researcher at Loughborough University. Her research challenges our collective connections around food and eating, with the aim of communicating aspects of her lived experience with the auto immune condition systemic sclerosis (SSc). Her work is held in national and international collections at Sheffield Museums’ Trust, Walsall Leather Museum, Musee Internationale de la Parfumerie in France, Archivo Negroni and Le Arti Orafe in Italy, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art in China and Itami City Museum of Art, History and Culture in Japan.
Through the innovative combination of craft and cooking processes, techniques and methods, Rachael denatures and transforms fruit peel food waste into a biodegradable vegan alternative to traditionally animal-based leathers, such as shagreen (ray or shark skin). Created to produce objects and wearables, the sensory material comes alive when worn and warmed by its close proximity to the skin, emitting a subtle fruity fragrance.
Rachael first visited Grasse in the south of France in January 2019, where she viewed the historic collections of bergamot and orange boxes at Musee Internationale de la Parfumerie and in the Fragonard Museum. Made from citrus fruit peel using craft methods reappropriated from their leatherworking industry, “Bergamote” and “orangette” are names given to the little sweetmeat or trinket boxes that developed as a form of art in Grasse in the 18th Century. They were made only in Grasse, and in Italy in the Veneto, Calabria and Sicily with varying techniques and characteristics.” Through research, observation of the artefacts, testing of techniques and trial and error, Rachael developed a process that reimagined and reinterpreted this traditional craft practice within the modern-day context of the UK, this in and of itself raises questions around the year-round availability of citrus fruits in contemporary consumer culture. She aims, through the creation of partially biodegradable jewellery and artefacts from food waste, to highlight issues around sustainability, both personally and practically.
Mini craft gallery
