This piece has been made in collaboration with Zena Holloway, bio-designer and founder of Rootfull. Zena has pioneered the use of wheatgrass roots to create a new sustainable textile for clothes, lights and sculptures. Lai first discovered Rootfull at the Future Fabrics Expo in London in 2024, whilst doing research into next-gen materials on behalf of The British Hat Guild and was immediately excited by it’s potential for hat making. 

Zena carves templates by hand out of beeswax onto which she sows wheatgrass seeds. The roots grow down through the template and over the course of 2 weeks, take on it’s shape. The seed and shoot are sliced off (and given to her chickens!). The root is then dried out and treated with a non-polluting substance to make it stable. Zena uses natural dyes such as madder, gall nut and vegetable dyes to colour the root textile. 

The ‘ROOT’ hat on display in the ‘Making Headway’ exhibition is one of a collection of 5 hats Lai has made in collaboration with Zena, out of root fibre. Unlike straw (which is traditionally used in hat making) root fibre is not woven and so does not stretch. For this reason it works best when sculpted. However, similarly to straw, it responds to steaming in order to be shaped. It is also light and it can be stitched and dyed; all important properties in hat making. Zena dyed the piece of root textile with madder especially for the exhibition piece Lai designed.

The unique characteristics of the selected piece of root fibre dictated the design for ‘ROOT’. The hat was crafted by combining the root with traditional millinery materials and skills. For example, the supportive inside lining of the crown, the backing of the bow as well as the straw ‘veil’ were all made from pieces of straw offcuts from Lai’s workroom which have been patch-worked together. The ‘bow’ has been allowed to follow the natural organic shape of the root fibre piece. The stitching on the back of the bow is large, visible and purposely honest.