This blog by Nathalie Leung Shing, Mauritian Craftivist is presented in association with Plant Perspectives. Nathalie Leung Shing is a self-taught Mauritian artist and craftivist whose practice combines textile art, sustainability and storytelling. Working primarily with recycled textiles, discarded materials and natural elements, she transforms waste into thought-provoking artworks that challenge consumption and raise awareness of environmental issues. Her project Bin Your Butt, created from discarded cigarette filters collected during a beach cleanup in Mauritius, won the 2026 Africa International Design Award in Product Design, Eco Design. Through her work, Nathalie explores the power of creativity to inspire environmental responsibility and social change.
My journey with plants began unexpectedly, after attending several weddings where I noticed beautiful floral arrangements being discarded once the celebrations were over. I could not bring myself to see them simply become waste.
I brought back a Protea flower from a wedding in South Africa, carefully air-drying its delicate bracts and stigma to create new leaves and flowers from my imagination. I also picked a Pin Oak leaf at Vergelegen Wine Estate where my friends and I had lunch beneath a tree. Back in Mauritius, I was captivated by the vibrant yellow blooms of the golden shower tree, Cassia fistula. I began experimenting with needle and thread, hand-stitching them into a wreath.
What started as an experiment became a reflection on memory, celebration and impermanence. These flowers had been part of moments of joy, yet once the celebrations were over, they were suddenly considered disposable. I wanted to give these forgotten remnants another life.
This was the beginning of my relationship with leaves as an artistic material.
Over time, I began looking differently at the plants around me, particularly the leaves that naturally fall in my own garden. I became fascinated by their shapes, textures and fragility. A fallen leaf can appear almost insignificant, yet when you look closely, every one is different. The veins, imperfections, changes in colour and traces of decay tell the story of its life.
I became interested in what happens when we choose not to discard these materials immediately, but instead pause and pay attention to them.
This led to Growth Begins, a delicate vase created using two carefully air-dried geranium aralia leaves collected from my garden. I preserved the leaves by allowing them to dry naturally, keeping their original character visible. I then hand-stitched roots onto one of the leaves, symbolising growth and reminding us of our responsibility to nurture nature for a better future.
The work explores growth, decay and renewal. The leaves have already completed one stage of their life, yet through stitching they are transformed into something new. The vase becomes a vessel between nature and human intervention, holding fragments of the past while suggesting the possibility of another beginning.
Growth Begins was featured in the Artists For Plants international digital exhibition, The Creativity of Plants, presented through the Ottawa Art Gallery in Canada. It was meaningful to see a work that began with two leaves from my garden become part of a wider conversation about nature, care and renewal.
For me, stitching is a slow act of observation. There is something very different about working with a needle and thread compared with the speed at which we consume and discard things today. Each stitch requires patience, concentration and touch. I have to handle the material gently because a dried leaf is fragile. Too much pressure can tear it; too little can leave the stitch loose.
I am not trying to stop nature’s cycle. A leaf will still decay. Instead, I am interested in creating a moment between falling and disappearing, a pause in which the material can be seen, appreciated and given another form.
