Seeds of Change by Gitta Gschwendtner

German designer Gitta Gschwendtner and Brazilian artist Maria Thereza Alves have planted a garden on a derelict barge in Bristol Harbour using the kinds of foreign seeds that were once mixed up in ships’ ballast before being dumped in the river.

Seeds of Change is a floating garden on a disused concrete grain barge containing a variety of plants not native to Britain.

Raised beds line each side of the garden and an elevated central path disguises the raised opening where grain was once loaded into the barge.

Through her research into old shipping routes, Alves discovered that ships returning from ports around the world would fill their hulls with earth and stones to stay weighed down on their return journey.

Once back in Britain, the earth – which contained seeds – was offloaded into the river. Alves discovered that if the riverbed were excavated, the dormant seeds could be regerminated to grow into plants.

Inspired by this possibility, Alves and Gschwendtner designed a garden full of the types of plants that might once have had their seeds dumped in the river below.

“Some of the plants are very familiar to us now, like marigold or rocket, but did not exist in Britain prior to shipping trade,” Gschwendtner told Dezeen.

Gschwendtner is also taking part in Seven Designers for Seven Dials, an aerial installation in Covent Garden curated by Dezeen that will be on show throughout London Design Festival, which takes place between 14–23 September.

The designer is also making a one-off three-seater version of her Bodge Bench for the Stepney Green Design Collection curated by Dezeen.