FROM THE ROAD to the sky
Susan Easton, founder of From the Road, has always been fascinated with the visual experience of flying. “The shapes, textures, and patterns are incredible. It’s like an abstract painting,” she says.
While traveling in Turkana, Kenya, Susan chartered a plane so she could photograph aerial images of a lava flow, sand dunes, salt flats, houses, farmland, and flamingos. She found that each picture was a unique blend of reality and abstraction, with rich colors and unexpected geometry.
In addition to creating large format photographs on watercolor paper, Susan wanted to experiment with a three-dimensional medium to capture the fluidity of each image.
She commissioned master silkscreeners in India and Nepal to print the images on loosely handwoven linen, which turned out to be just the thing. Susan remarks, “I love how the photographs turn even more abstract when printed [on a woven textile]. It becomes all about the shapes and colors.”
Susan used linen printed with a picture she took of crop circles in Northern Kenya to design the Aerial Abstraction Scarf exclusively for DARA Artisans.
She also created her Crinkled Tussar Silk & Cashmere Scarf in an exclusive shade of rosy coral for DARA Artisans after reminiscing with Dara about the majestic sunsets in Kerala, India, where the sky turns pink each evening as the sun dips down beneath the horizon.
Both exclusive scarves capture From the Road and DARA Artisans’ shared appreciation for beautiful objects– not only in terms of their aesthetic, but also for the way in which they were brought to life.
