𖤛 About Plankton By Lesley

Founded in September 2023, Planktonbylesley is a commitment to ‘going back to the roots’: drifting against the cemented structure of modern life to embrace the rhythms of nature. I draw the name from the Plankton: the microscopic, resilient drifters of the ocean. 

To be ‘planktonic’ is to be rooted in an unrooted place while keeping the mind exiled in the wild. Like plankton, I celebrate this fluidity and curiosity, living in symbiosis with the natural world. This ethos is woven into each piece of mine, blending the aesthetics of the dark forest and deep sea with a nostalgic, free-spirited touch.

My practice centres on knitwear, freeform crochet, and seed pod jewellery. From May 2024 to February 2026, Plankton took root within Afflecks, Manchester. This period marked a quiet yarn game, where I began infusing fibres such as virgin wool, alpaca, and slub yarn with the natural pigments of plants. In the meantime, I collected what the earth discards: Lysidice seed pods, Eucalyptus, rubber tree pods, etc., transforming them into wearable art. 

The colour palette of my work is mainly earthy, mottled, distressed, echoing the Wabi-Sabi aesthetics of decay, imperfection and the passage of time. I wish each ‘plankton’ could anchor a tactile ‘moment of being’ for restless modern souls, thus I began creating and will continue to do so.