In spring 2025, Slovak designer and Fabricademy instructor Petra Garajová joined FarmLab for a residency exploring the intersection of craft, ecology, and rural storytelling.

Her project, The Way of Bells, reimagined the sheep bell as a poetic link between pastoral life, sound, and environmental awareness. Using ceramic techniques like obvara and raku firing, alongside 3D-printed forms inspired by nature and traditional shapes, Petra crafted objects that speak to both memory and transformation.

The installation unfolded across two rooms: one evoking the abandonment of rural traditions, with deformed ceramic bells; the other offering a quiet, symbiotic space, inviting visitors to reflect on their connection to the land and its non-human inhabitants.​

The Way of Bells stands as a poetic meditation on the rhythms of rural life, the materials that shape our environment, and the stories that resonate through time.

The project was presented as part of the Land Matter/s exhibition on April 26, 2025 and has been possible thanks to a grant from Culture Moves Europe.

Photo credits: Petra Garajová