Building upon their recent research and adopting The Manifesto of Phyto-centred Design as a compass for further critical reflection, the founders of studio d-o-t-s will establish connections with local institutions and practitioners active in the field of plant cultivation, education, and conservation. They will map the manifold relationships which exist between Pillnitz’s people and its flora, wild and domesticated.

Open-ended and participatory, d-o-t-s’ explorations will inform the way in which Plant Fever, the touring exhibition conceived by the studio, will be showcased at Schloss Pillnitz. The exhibition opens on April 28th, 2023. The partnerships with local collaborators will form the exhibition’s site-specific cultural programme. Potential outputs of the interactions include: conferences, practical workshops, culinary events, and thematic walks.

With the Lab project, Beyond the Garden: Plant Journeys, studio d-o-t-s aims at creating a culturally, ethnically, generationally, professionally, gender diverse and inclusive dialogue about the heterogeneous, and sometimes conflicting, relationships between humans and plants. Going beyond the museum’s walls, and gardens, the project will involve the audience and partners in a multi-layered exchange around idea like: plants’ displacement and collection; invasive species; health and plants; phytoremediation; biomanufacture and biomimicry; plant-based design and ephemerality; guerrilla and community gardening; local agro-industrial dynamics and reforestation policies; plants and cultural landscapes; Pillnitz’s historical background; the Kunstgewerbemuseum’s own arts and crafts collection.


Laura Drouet (FR) and Olivier Lacrouts (IT, FR) founded d-o-t-s in 2014. The studio develops editorial and curatorial projects which focus on alternative social dynamics, off-the-record stories, and experimental design perspectives. Defined by participatory and interdisciplinary approaches, their work spans writing and exhibition-making to hands-on workshops.