Louisa Akka - BA (Hons) Product Design and Craft
With Well-being in Mind - Essence of the Forest Collection
Louisa’s practice explores the scientifically proven link between Forest Bathing and wellbeing, and how craft can convey and evoke these benefits through a range of haptic, multi-sensory, interactive ceramic pieces. Her aim is to enhance wellbeing, especially in individuals unable to interact regularly with the natural world.
She works on varying scales, creating hand and lap-held pieces, designed for use in the home or by professionals in workshops and therapy sessions related to wellbeing, as well as creating larger-scale sculptures designed with gallery, museum or indoor public spaces in mind.
To limit the environmental impact of her work and enhance tactile qualities, sculptures are not glazed but sometimes she uses natural dyes made from conker shells, acorns or pinecones, essential oils and beeswax finishes. This removes the need for a second firing aiding the sustainability of her practice.
Recently, a selection of her interactive, multi-sensory ceramics was included in a British Ceramics Biennale dementia workshop and a separate trial with a psychotherapist working mainly with neurodivergent clients, to provide her with feedback to aid the development of this range of interactive tools. She was also a finalist at the MMU Ideas Festival 2025.
For this exhibition, she has created biomorphic, interactive sculptures that explore the seemingly chaotic interface between different organic structures, entropy and atrophy, both required for the continuation of life and symbiotic interconnectivity, on both the micro and macro levels found in the forest. They could be made up of molecules or organic material, like spores, or even fungi enveloping a decaying log. They speak of life, teeming with energy, even as its form mutates, recycling the building blocks of life.
Her sculptures can be gently touched and explored using visual and tactile senses. A forest soundscape is available for auditory stimulation to create a more immersive experience.
