V&A Dundee is laying the groundwork for its upcoming exhibition, Garden Futures: Designing with Nature, with a fresh floral redesign and the launch of a new design collaboration with Irregular Sleep Pattern.

The area surrounding the iconic waterfront museum is being replanted, and this week Dundee City Council’s team of gardeners have been adding hundreds of plants to the landscape surrounding the building.

On Friday 2nd May, they were joined by volunteers from V&A Dundee, plus guest gardeners Jolene Crawford and Mil Stricevic, otherwise known as Irregular Sleep Pattern. Irregular Sleep Pattern showcased their new gardening-inspired collection, exclusive to V&A Dundee, as they helped put the finishing touches to the planting.

It’s the first time in six years that the area directly around V&A Dundee has been refreshed and the introduction of more plants is intended to ensure a more beautiful garden all year round, welcoming visitors to the waterfront with a full, colourful and biodiverse display of greenery and flowers. The fresh landscaping also coincides with the RHS’s National Gardening Week (28 April – 4 May).

In celebration of V&A Dundee’s upcoming Garden Futures exhibition, Jolene and Mil, the Glasgow-based designers behind Irregular Sleep Pattern, have partnered with V&A Dundee for their first-ever design collaboration. ‘Dreamstalk’ is a striking new garden-inspired print featuring on a garden apron, robe and T-shirts. The exclusive design also features on chocolate bars and notebooks.

Irregular Sleep Pattern are champions of sustainability, taking a responsible approach to the design and manufacture of their unique clothing.

Mil Stricevic of the husband-and-wife team says the Dreamstalk design is inspired by the fragile nature of the relationship between humans and the natural world: “The pattern combines symbols of familiar and lost gardening tools, produce and participants, and considers how we can garden with gratitude, respect and love.

“Our prints also feature a simple, infinitely repeated message which seems as timely now as ever: you reap what you sow. It’s optimistic – an appeal to people to do the right thing, joyfully.”

Erin Thompson, Retail Manager at V&A Dundee, said: “This is a really special collaboration, and we’re thrilled with the designs that Mil and Jolene have created for us. Their sustainability credentials, their unique, colourful, garden-inspired graphics and their ‘irregular’ way of doing things means they’re a perfect fit for a partnership with V&A Dundee.”

Developed by Dundee City Council’s landscape architects, the new planting design incorporates shrubs, grasses and perennials which are well suited to V&A Dundee’s coastal location and are in keeping with the style of the nearby urban beach. Pastel-coloured achilleas and purple salvias will combine with soft silver stachys (lamb’s ear) and airy Mexican daisies for a fresh and long-lasting display of colour.

The fresh planting and design collaboration are both in preparation for V&A Dundee’s new exhibition Garden Futures: Designing with Nature, which opens on Saturday 17th May. This sumptuous, colour-filled exhibition will take visitors on an illuminating sensory journey through key moments of inspiration and innovation in gardens and garden design, from the 20th century to present day and looking to the future of gardens.

A fascinating collection of design objects, paintings, textiles, sculpture, interior design, fashion, drawings and photographs show how the enduring allure of gardens influences artists, writers and designers alike. Visitors will be able to get hands-on, creating digital designs for pollinator-rich planting, as well as experiencing the scents and sounds of nature through interactive exhibits.

Tickets can be booked online at www.vam.ac.uk/dundee. Members and 18s and unders go free.

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V&A Dundee 

V&A Dundee is Scotland’s design museum. Designed for everyone – firing imaginations and sparking curiosity in design in Scotland and around the world, from the heart of Dundee’s reimagined waterfront.

Conceived as a 21st century museum and designed by Kengo Kuma, V&A Dundee is a place of activity and energy, presenting spectacular exhibitions and a range of vibrant design experiences across our building, plaza and city. V&A Dundee brings design from all over the world to Scotland and gives a new voice and platform to Scottish design and designers.

V&A Dundee is part of the V&A family of museums, supported by the Scottish Government and our founding partnership of V&A, Dundee City Council, the University of Dundee, Abertay University and Scottish Enterprise.

@VADundee