Profile: Ezra Armstrong – Only Natural Design Competitions

Ezra Armstrong

University of the Arts London

I am a woven textile designer who specialises in traditional processes and techniques that allow me to keep sustainability at the core of my designs. I use all natural materials that have either been sourced locally, grown myself or found and foraged. Processes have explored include - yarn spinning, natural dyeing and basketry. These processes allow me to keep circularity a main focus throughout my projects and fabrics I have produced. I love to learn new skills and researching about traditional craft that use natural materials you can find anywhere is what makes my practice so exciting and enjoyable. I get all my inspiration from hiking and foraging in nature and appreciating the beauty of the plants and forms all around. I design for interiors with the idea of bringing more nature and natural materials into the home to reconnect with the land and to promote the benefits that these materials can have for us compared to synthetic. My work serves as a celebration of nature.

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Return to Earth

Category: Interior

Competitions: Home Competition 2026

'Return to Earth' is a project that explores the beauty of flax-linen, natural dyes and willow basketry. Inspired by my own experiment of growing flax in the summer I discovered the beauty of this material from seed to fibre that I then could weave with. Using the plants and nature local to my home as colour and pattern inspiration, I create designs not only inspired by nature but that incorporate it too with foraged materials and eco-friendly processes. 'Return to Earth' is a project that is designed to be circular and have no negative impact on the land. Designed for interior and exterior furnishings, linen and willow are strong, durable and bring natural materials into your home. I explored traditional willow basketry techniques which led me to want to explore how I could incorporate the willow in my weaving on the dobby loom. I created pieces that were woven flat and 2D but when they came off the loom they could be bent and folded in different directions and make 3D sculptural designs. My final piece is a 4 way bend willow and flax-linen decorative vase for interiors. The yarns I used are undyed and naturally dyed flax-linen using marigold, indigo, madder and weld plant dyes. I sourced willow by foraging it locally to me and from UK growers in Somerset. I spun my own flax yarn from homegrown flax I grew last summer and from flax grown by small farms in Somerset and Ireland. Other yarns i used were European linen certified. It was important to me to know the origins of every material i used to be as sustainable as i could. As every material in this project is natural the products are designed to be returned to the earth that the materials once came from, as the project title says.