Sophie Urschel

Engaging with slow processes and foraging materials, I create work inspired by craft and the natural world.
I use traditional crafting techniques like crochet, weaving, quilting, and natural dyeing to create functional work, often meant to create use that benefits nature. Pieces like The Seed Dispersal Scarf uses hyperbolic crochet to create a wearable wildflower spreading tool for planting native flowers around Chicago.
I create objects and wearables intended to be as utilitarian as possible. To create a function where there is a lack of connection between humans and their natural environment. My work engages with the natural processes of the world like birth, death, decay, and returning to the earth. Much of my work is process and experiment based, experiments in making materials from scratch and as biodegradable as possible. Creating things to both help aid nature but not affect it in any other way. There is too much physical material negatively impacting nature, and I don't want to add to it.