This material-based textile work centres on lace made from fibres of wild hop (Humulus lupulus). The project presents hand-crafted lace as its main exhibit, using plant-based material processed through traditional techniques.
The work begins with wild hop, a migratory plant growing in the riparian forests of the Lower Oder River Valley near Szczecin in Poland. Its fine fibres are extracted through retting, a slow, natural process that requires no industrial input and leaves the plant unharmed. The resulting material is rare and not suited to large-scale production, instead requiring time-intensive, manual methods. Polkowska translates these conditions into bobbin lace, a craft introduced to Poland from Italy in the 16th century. The process of lace-making reflects the plant’s own behaviour, as threads twist and wind in ways that echo how hop tendrils grow around supporting structures, linking natural processes with cultural techniques.
The work raises the question of how freedom can emerge through movement, migration, and exchange, rather than through fixed boundaries.
Agnieszka Polkowska is a designer, curator and educator whose practice explores the relationships between natural and cultural systems through site-specific research and material experimentation.
This material-based textile work centres on lace made from fibres of wild hop (Humulus lupulus). The project presents hand-crafted lace as its main exhibit, using plant-based material processed through traditional techniques.
The work begins with wild hop, a migratory plant growing in the riparian forests of the Lower Oder River Valley near Szczecin in Poland. Its fine fibres are extracted through retting, a slow, natural process that requires no industrial input and leaves the plant unharmed. The resulting material is rare and not suited to large-scale production, instead requiring time-intensive, manual methods. Polkowska translates these conditions into bobbin lace, a craft introduced to Poland from Italy in the 16th century. The process of lace-making reflects the plant’s own behaviour, as threads twist and wind in ways that echo how hop tendrils grow around supporting structures, linking natural processes with cultural techniques.
The work raises the question of how freedom can emerge through movement, migration, and exchange, rather than through fixed boundaries.
Agnieszka Polkowska is a designer, curator and educator whose practice explores the relationships between natural and cultural systems through site-specific research and material experimentation.