Penny Sage x Marta Buda

“As I was designing and thinking about this fabric, I was feeling quite disillusioned by the current global state of affairs -where we are environmentally and socially. Everything felt (feels) fickle and I wanted to run away and live in the country and grow a big garden. Kate [designer of Penny Sage] and I talk about this often. We both kept looking to nature and prolific female gardeners like Kay Baxter in New Zealand (co-founder of the Koanga Institute) and Liz Christy who started Green Guerillas in New York in the 1970s. I guess this just made me want to paint flowers.

I began painting and drawing flowers on paper with the intention to create a digital printed fabric, but I wasn’t satisfied with the results. So, I asked Kate if I could paint straight onto fabric, which she was excited about. I didn’t have a design I followed or referenced, I just started painting flowers from my head. It was a very free and fun learning process.

The collaborative relationship Kate and I have is based on a large amount of trust and shared values. On a selfish level, Kate has helped me grow as an artist and designer by nurturing my instincts and teaching me to trust myself in the work that I do.” — Marta Buda