swamp things. design for regenerative paludiculture

Congratulations to Charlett Wenig, Lucy Norris and Janne Ebel on their visual essay publication in the .able journal!

Rewetting peatlands is crucial for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, as these ecosystems store twice as much carbon compared to forests. Transitioning to sustainable wetland regeneration depends on farmers being able to develop viable new peatland economies, known as paludiculture from the Latin palus, meaning swamp. This research addresses how we can support farmers to thrive in these rewetted landscapes, to develop suitable new technologies with local resources, and speculate on future modes of living in these newly fashioned landscapes. The research site is fenland (Niedermoor) near Kremmen, in Brandenburg, in northeastern Germany. Here, the authors focus on the potential of peatland grasses, specifically reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) and sedge (Carex spp.), as materials which could be grown in abundance in this area, and explore their properties, traditional craftsmanship methods, and modern technologies of making. The project Swamp Things! was part of the ＿matter Festival 2025.

Watch the full essay here: https://doi.org/10.69564/able.en.26035.swampthings

.able reinvents the publication form by making research accessible through images. Free of charge and distributed on numerous platforms, media, and devices, created at the initiative of La Chaire Arts & Sciences of the École Polytechnique, the École des Arts Décoratifs – PSL, and the Fondation Daniel et Nina Carasso, the journal is published by Actar Publishers and supported by some thirty international academic partners.