About

Welcome to Flowers of the Sea. I’m Michelle, and I feel very fortunate to have grown up on the beautiful Isle of Wight, surrounded by its stunning and varied coastline.

The beach has always been my happy place. I love walking along the shore and foraging for seaweed throughout the year, especially after a storm when new treasures appear. I’m endlessly inspired by the colours, shapes and textures of seaweed, and how each piece tells a story of life at sea.

The seaweed I collect is sustainably foraged by hand and carefully pressed using traditional methods to preserve its natural beauty. There’s always an element of surprise in seeing how each specimen presses.

Flowers of the Sea celebrates the beauty of seaweed, which so often goes unnoticed or is dismissed as little more than a tangled mess washed up on the beach. A sentiment captured in a poem of the same name by Elizabeth L Aveline at a time when seaweed pressing was a popular Victorian past-time.

Through my work, I hope to encourage others to see seaweed with fresh eyes and discover for themselves these beautiful “flowers of the sea”.