The past 12 months as an Arts Foundation Futures Awards Regenerative Design Fellow have felt like a blessing after blessing, from being nominated, to winning, being featured on the BBC and experiencing my first artist residency. This Fellowship has marked one of the most transformative milestones in my life and creative practice.
Receiving the award gave me a profound sense of validation. It didn’t just boost my confidence in my work, it gave me permission to believe that Seasprout was worth betting on full-time. With the financial support of the Fellowship, I had the breathing room to focus entirely on it. Overnight, my project transformed into a registered company in the UK. I now run Seasprout full-time, something that still feels surreal to say out loud.
The morning after the award was announced, I woke up to find my story featured in a BBC News article. By that evening, I was being interviewed live on BBC television. The following day, my inbox was flooded with messages from companies interested in exploring how they could use my material to replace existing packaging solutions. This momentum led to Seasprout being accepted into the Undaunted Greenhouse Climate Tech Accelerator, a program that continues to support our growth and scale.
The artist residency that came as part of the Fellowship offered me something just as valuable: time and space. Being surrounded by nature gave me the mental clarity to reflect on my broader practice, how I want to use biomaterial innovation not just to create eco-friendly alternatives, but to inspire people to rethink waste altogether, building on the idea of biomaterials as tools for community engagement and environmental education. A co-design workshop, ‘Blueprints’, created during that time, will be facilitated during the World Design Assembly in September 2025.
The support from the Arts Foundation made me feel seen and encouraged in ways I hadn’t imagined. The Fellowship didn’t just recognise my work, it amplified it. The visibility and validation it offered gave my practice a platform, a voice, and a future I once only dreamed of, for which I am truly grateful.