Cared by the wind

The Mediterranean Sea is a dream-come-true, when the sea meets a wild or welcoming scenery. We chose to deal with the "Mediterranean dreams" theme by relying upon the richness of the natural elements.

Water, minerals and plants from the Mediterranean Sea habitat are the basis of the concept of our project which explores the old narrative of traditional knowledge that used the colours of the garrigue. Since the dawn of time, the spontaneous flora has provided food, medicines, perfumes and colours to the Mediterranean populations. We have a dream of a garden of tinctorial plants found in their genuine state.

The pedagogical purpose is that of the knowledge of the book of plants used for centuries for the brewing and the results that can be obtained. A sea of fabric tapes dyed with the pigments extracted from the plants will be ready to welcome visitors floating freely over their heads and creating an amazing colour palette.

“Isatis tinctoria” (the famous woad), for blues, bark and leaves of 'Alnus glutinosa' for greens and greys. Leaves, acorns and oak galls for tannins.

With minerals and sea water we obtain the fixatives, with fig, nettle and ivy leaves the green colours, with the radish of 'Rubbia tinctoria' the purple ones, broom and onion skin the most intense yellows.

We expect that the visitor in our tinctorial garden will spend a moment among the areas designed in the maquis, contemplating the naturally dyed fabrics that dangle hanging as if to dry, in an endless sea of colours.

For this purpose, there will be "deckchair-swings" (designed and manufactured for the occasion) with their canvas dyed with the natural colours of the plants found in the garden. To complete the visitor’s experience, explanatory panels will indicate the different plants and colours produced from them.

Our conceptual narrative is an invitation to perceive the Mediterranean Sea as a dream of colours and scents through a journey into the sea of foliage, bark and endemic flowers of the nature of the Provençal-Ligurian arc. The art of dyeing with plants is developing in concert with civilisation, and in the Mediterranean area the spontaneous harvesting of indigenous plants has provided for millennia the colours used for fabric. The opportunity to learn, to feel then to rest, to wonder and to contemplate is an educational and sensory experience that will allow you to live the Mediterranean in an ancient way.