For many of us, fallen leaves are a regular feature of winter walks and spark no further thought, but artist Susanna Bauer has found a unique way of preserving and celebrating these seemingly ephemeral and overlooked objects. Using fine needles and thread on carefully dried leaves, she meticulously crafts intricate forms with crochet and lace; often two-dimensional, but occasionally exquisitely constructed cubes, scrolls and other sculptures.
You might also like:
- Discover the company making handmade garden sieves
- Basket weaving on the shores of Loch Na Fooey
- Wood artist Darren Appiagyei on working with imperfections and the beauty of nature
Growing up near Munich, in the then-named West Germany, and studying landscape architecture, Susanna never set out to become an artist, but has always enjoyed “working small”. She trained as a product-design model maker, learning to work with precision “down to a tenth of a millimetre”. Then came 17 years working in film and advertising. Having moved to the UK in her mid-twenties, Susanna created everything from spaceships and robots to giant chocolate bars.
It was later that she enrolled at Camberwell College of Arts in London with ambitions to create her own original work. Her art began to take shape while filling long train journeys from London to visit her partner in Cornwall with knitting and crochet – her mother is a keen knitter and her grandmother a former seamstress. Susanna became inspired by the natural forms around her. “We’d been out collecting some wood for the fire one day and there was a branch in the log basket. I thought, ‘I want to hold this experience. How can I conserve this moment?’” Her answer was to carefully crochet around the log.
Later, Susanna did the same for some pebbles collected from the beach, before picking up a magnolia leaf – now her favourite type to work with – and crocheting around its edge. “It was incredibly beautiful, with clear, strong veins.”
A favourite source of inspiration for Susanna is antique lacework. “If you look at a leaf microscopically, it almost looks like lace,” she notes. “For me, combining lace with a leaf is honouring nature. I want to show my appreciation by doing the finest and most intricate work I can.”
Today, leaves are the main focus of Susanna’s work. “Every year, millions of leaves get discarded and disappear. In the perception of people, a leaf is temporary. But if you take the time to look at them, they are as individual as people; like palm prints.” Crocheting around a seemingly insignificant object is her way of expressing admiration for it. “It’s a record of personal experience, but also an homage to nature.”
Susanna starts a piece of work by collecting leaves and drying them at her home studio in Somerset, where she has lived with her partner and son since 2021. There are leaves strewn across tables, hung from walls and gathered in bags, boxes and files, sometimes spending years tucked away before inspiration strikes and they are transformed into an art piece. “It’s an organic process,” Susanna explains. “An idea can arrive in many different ways, sometimes sparked by a particular shape or by finding two leaves that seem to belong together.”
Susanna works with various leaves, from oak and beech to ginkgo, but revisits certain trees such as magnolia for its archetypal leaf shape and strong veins. Their large size also makes magnolia leaves suitable for three-dimensional sculptures, which involves cutting and re-joining them with crochet. Susanna gathers leaves wherever she goes, and she has specimens collected on holidays in Germany and the USA, as well as closer to home.
In galleries, visitors often do a double take when they see her work on display. With such delicate materials, it’s almost impossible to comprehend her method. “There is no secret,” she says. “I’ve got very fine tools and I work carefully. It’s a slow process.” Holding a leaf in her hands, Susanna creates her crochet and lacework using a fine hook, making up patterns in her head as she goes.
Inevitably, when working with such fragile objects, there are times when things don’t go to plan. “I might spend weeks on a piece and then something might break. If I’m not in the right frame of mind, if my life is not in equilibrium, that’s when things go wrong.” For Susanna, this element of risk is part of the attraction, and a reflection of her own life. “Whenever something doesn’t go the way you expect it to, it is a reminder to readjust or reconsider.” Sudden breakages open up new possibilities, and Susanna often ‘mends’ incomplete leaves, using crochet to repair rips and fill holes.
This sense of equilibrium works both ways. “I need the calmness of mind and hand to do the work, but I also need the work to give me my balance,” Susanna says. Her artworks span single leaves, grouped arrangements and three-dimensional designs, so individual pieces can take her anything from a few days to several weeks to achieve once she has settled on an approach. Then, there is the task of mounting the finished work on a backing board and framing it.
“As I’m working, I’m thinking about our perception of beauty. What is it that makes something beautiful?” she asks. “It’s about dialogue, connections, presence. All these little marvels and identities. You can see a parallel to our own lives in that.”
Find out more about Susanna’s work at susannabauer.com
Photographs by Lisa Linder.
