Marta continued to develop her artistic passion. After a course with the Erasmus Exchange Programme in Orihuela, Spain, she went onto study design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, Poland and further developed her works during an internship in Palermo, Italy. At the same time, Marta was exploring new ways of applying her skills and passion to benefit people and planet.
Inspired by a memory of her pet dog from her childhood singing with her violin playing, Marta sat next to her plant collection and wondered whether plants would interact and benefit from music like animals do. She then began projects which would lead her to create Plant Melody. Marta started to research the impact of music on bean seeds, and when more seeds germinated as a result of music, she created an instrument called ‘Fasola si do’ – named after the first musical notes every child in Poland learns - Fa So La Si Do, as well as being the name of a bean. She then created the Plantstation installation by collaborating with other musicians, which was an instrument to nurture plants with music. After winning two prestigious awards with these ideas – the Climate Innovation Award of Austrian Culture Abroad for internatonal designers with the Fasola si do instrument, and the YOUNG Design, The Lem Year, Design Award with the Plantstation, Marta got in touch with Michal Mos, an unconventional plant scientist with a particular interest in plant spirituality, and the rest is history…
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After many years working with trees, Michal explored a new interest and pursued a master’s degree in oceanography. Despite developing his knowledge in this field, he knew his heart was in plants and enrolled in a biotechnology master’s degree program in Poznan, Poland. Here he wrote his master’s thesis on Intellectual Property (IP) rights in plant breeding.
To pursue his passion, Michal moved to the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), part of Aberystwyth University in Wales, UK, to study for a PhD in biotechnology. Michal studied a plant called Miscanthus, which grows on less productive farmland in the UK and around the world. It can be used to make renewable energy as well as many other climate-friendly uses.
He started working for a company in the UK to grow more Miscanthus, and saw his research really making a difference to people and planet. A pivotal moment in Michal’s life was when he decided to change his path and move to El Hierro, a small Canary Island. He arrived with nothing, no knowledge of the local language, no money, and no home. It was then he developed seeds of different plant species and began to work with farms. Now he is managing ground-breaking seed breeding projects and running local farms with sustainable growing methods. He grows 80% of the food he eats and lives with the other islanders who he sees as family. But he still wanted to give more back to the natural world and felt something fundamental was missing. That’s when he connected with Marta to create the perfect team. His background of plant science compliments her artistic vision, and their shared love of nature has culminated in the creation of a revolutionary breakthrough, Plant Melody.
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