Lou’s Redress Design Award collection, ‘Emancipation’, is inspired by contradictions in society and the desire to wake people up to them. The collection upcycles unsold knitwear garments, pure wool and linen deadstock fabrics, and silk Shibori panels naturally dyed with lac to minimise waste. Designing for low environmental impact, Lou uses the natural tannin reaction of a plant through cooking and compression as a printing technique to create vegetal patterns, also adding leek, coral, red cabbage, and wheat grass seeds to her designs.