Two eco-friendly companies create prints, paintings and cards from seaweed!

I’m a big fan of seaweed, not only because it holds together some of the best sushi known to man, but also because it’s a wonderful natural product of the ocean. Seaweed is a food source for ocean creatures like turtles and seals, it helps heal wounds, it’s a source of iodine and it can be found in stuff like toothpaste, makeup and paint. Apparently it’s also an awesome material for art. It can be preserved and pressed to form beautiful pieces of artwork.

Here are 2 eco-friendly companies that use seaweed as an inspiration for artwork:

Coastal Prezence
Coastal Prezence is a husband, wife and daughter family owned business that makes paintings, cards and prints with seaweed. The company’s artistic statement says: “We think it is important today, in this time to re-establish a working relationship with nature, and we as artists are truly inspired by the flowing shapes and bold forms that the seaweeds supply. Wherever we go and no matter how far from the ocean, people on their travels are receptive to our seaweed designs. It is this universal acceptance that has allowed us to grow and continue to pursue this unique medium.”

Below are a few of the company’s pressed seaweed art pieces:

AlgaNet
AlgaNet is an online Etsy shop that features original pressed seaweed printings. The French artist’s profile says: “For more than 10 years I have been collecting, preserving and pressing seaweeds, based on traditional methods of botany but also improving my own technique to press and avoid fading with around 150 different species of algae, tiny ones and giant kelps.”

Pretty cool way to make art, don’t you think?