Waste, Colour, and Use: A Collaboration with Tern

For Earth Day, something simple.

These cushions were made using kitchen waste from Tern, a restaurant built around seasonality and a close connection to ingredients and process.

Their approach runs through everything they do—not just reducing waste, but thinking about how materials can carry further and be part of something wider.

As they put it:

“We use everything we can. Every part of every ingredient matters. But there are always elements that fall outside of use just through practicality.

Rhubarb leaves are a great example. Instead of discarding them, we pass them on to Wendy, who transforms them into something entirely different. Something considered and lasting—a second life, with its own value and its own story.”

Onion skins, avocado pits, bay leaves and rhubarb leaves—set aside from the kitchen instead of thrown away, then used as natural dyes.

Each piece starts with antique linen. It goes into the dye pot, and the colour comes from whatever happens in the process. No fixed recipes, no exact shades.

Avocado pits give soft, dusty pinks.
Onion skins bring warmer rust tones.
Leaves shift things towards yellow and green.

The results aren’t uniform, and that’s the point. Each cushion comes out slightly differently, shaped by the materials, the timing, and the fabric itself.

It’s not about making a statement. It’s just a way of working—using what’s already there, and turning it into something useful.

Something to live with, rather than throw away.