The Mills has invited designer UUendy Lau, UU to create an installation piece with natural dyes. UU takes inspiration from her upbringing in Tsuen Wan and tells a story about a girl and a tree, named “Happy Birthday to Tree”. Founded upon this narrative, her artwork includes pre-exhibition workshops that welcome community members to explore the impeccable relationship between man and nature, and how nature speaks to us in her beautiful swashes.

Natural dyeing has long been in our history books and underscores cultural tales from around the world. It’s not just an environmentally friendly way of dying our fabrics, but each dexter has a different craft, meaning every product is a unique art piece that illustrates our story with nature.

In UU’s first work themed around plant dyes, The Mills has invited the “Giants Tie Dye” from Hong Kong and Taiwan as her mentor. UU has mixed the “Hong Kong Blue” made by the “Giants Tie Dye” with gardenia fruit and the common madder root to create a swash of colour unique to the artist.