Forest gardens are gaining ground across Europe, bringing together people from different backgrounds to transform public or private spaces into forest ecosystems.

I started collaborating with Le jardin forêt de Cabessut after a first visit in the summer of 2022, where I met different actors committed to grow a food forest in this public space of two acres, allocated by the city of Cahors.
Two hundred trees had been planted in the winter, but they were still underground and actors of this space struggled with wayfinding and identification of plants.

To enhance the design of the forest and its species, I proposed to take
the lead to conceive a signage system that would be easily built with manual tools and local materials. With a timing of three weeks and a small budget,
I designed a family of objects, in constant dialog with the association to meet their needs. The system is based on the same principle for the different elements : the tension between waxed canvas and bamboo poles collected locally. It consists of six elements : a welcome panel, zoning flags, pennants for the paths, a totem for wayfinding, banners for storage spaces and labels for plants. Those elements were built and disposed on the site by volunteers during a participative work camp of one week that I animated. The first version was made with plastic tarp professionally printed, but I further developed a printing technique using local oak tannins, recycled white sheets and beeswax, in order to offer a signage that resonates better with the space and its values. If you would like to see this work, go to Lost crafts of oaks and limes.