Florence Sargent

Hands interacting with textile soft sculpture cube. Colourful mixed felt shapes hand embroidered onto cube.

Florence Sargent is a London based multidisciplinary artist and designer with a strong commitment to colour interaction and design for play. Graduating with a first-class honours degree from Loughborough University in 2021, Florence was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art.

Florence uses colour to lead design which often results in a kaleidoscope of geometry with seamless line fluidity and a curiosity towards optical play. Her journey through the RCA has been anchored by the desire to encourage a playful engagement with surfaces through use of colour theory and soft materials.

Florence was named as one to watch for both the 2021 Colour in Design Awards and Loughborough Enterprise Awards. Her work has been featured in Wave Press Magazine, Charnwood Gallery and her illustrations have been celebrated in public space projects including university campus bus shelters and the ‘Future Generations’ mural for high-rise flats in 2020.

Florence standing in front of the constructive play mural. Colourful acrylic paint on a 3-dimensional geometric mural.

"Since we live in an extremely fragmented world, I believe the future belongs to those who can combine and recombine, assemble and reassemble something at least individually meaningful out of all those fragments."

Gustaf Almenberg

Exploring how we can have a more engaging interaction with surfaces through colour, puzzle and an interrogation of optical play through illusion, Florence looks to the activity and psychology of constructive play to determine how this particular activity can be implemented in surfaces to create healthier spaces.

Florence’s sketches and distinctive paintings are informed by geometric illusion art and constructive play materials which engage the user by making them question their own perception. Her work has an individual narrative that stemmed from her family's experience in technical drawing and notably her Grandfather's long career as a technical illustrator for Vickers Armstrongs engineers.

By developing a sustainable approach to materials, Florence creates holistically healthy environments for both user and space, an approach achieved through re-use of discarded materials and designing for surfaces in spaces which require its users to be present, maintain focus and to build social connections. As adults our instinct to play is repressed and we can use surfaces to challenge this repression and tempt us into being tactile and engaged in play when we are so often disengaged and distracted. Her handcrafted work is made with playful techniques such as splatted acrylic paint and stitched felt whilst the textile sculptures themselves allude to constructive play, creating a harmonious interrelation between play as a process as well as an outcome.

Soft sculpture constructive play cube. (60 x 60 x 60cm).

Constructive Play Mural. (200 x 100cm).

Installation prototypes.

Prototype sample. (15 x 15cm).

Materials from left to right: sublimated recycled felt, reused cardboard, repurposed upholstery foam cuttings, recycled calico on card, recyled felt and calico on card.