To Seed
By Gita Wolf, Tushar Vayeda and Mayur Vayeda
A wonderfully special handmade book, divided into 4 separate booklets of different themes and art. Illustrations by Tushar and Mayur, brothers in the Warli community of India, are silk screened onto handmade paper pages.
All gardeners—young, old, new or experienced—know the gleeful satisfaction in sowing a seed and watching it sprout. Given the right conditions, they unfurl into miniature plants. And yet…it is miraculous, every single time.
Seed Nature—a metaphor for life—a pop-up, opening up magically like a seed sprouting. It turns into a basket used by the Warli people to gather seeds.
Seed Travels—the journey of seeds—based on biology. It opens out into a long accordion form, reconstructing the lengthy journey of seeds along different landscapes.
Seed Women—the human relationship to seeds—a glimpse into cultural history in the form of a classical book a, with a focus on the beliefs of the Warli people.
Seed Universe–The Tree of Life as a symbol–a fold out, which mimicks the gradual transformation of a small seed into a grand multitudinous tree
A seed is a miracle. It is neither alive nor dead, yet holds within itself the potential for life. When it meets the right conditions, it starts to unfurl, with a promise of plenty and the hope of regeneration.
The astonishing variety of traits that a seed holds can be looked at in terms of botany, but also through the lens of art, culture and history. But it is only by connecting these modes—bringing together science and imagination, knowing and relishing—that we can begin to grasp nature with the wonder that it deserves.
This gorgeous handcrafted book makes these connections in two unprecedented ways. The exquisite imagery it features has been created by artists from the Warli tribe in western India. The Warlis nurture a felt kinship with nature to this day, so their art embodies rich ecological knowledge systems in an intrinsic way.
The book also connects form and meaning. Linked by short concise essays, four distinct paper forms explore a diverse set of themes: each designed to capture a particular aspect of the cosmos contained in a seed.