Pauline Greuell: Prints for Plants in Transylvania
Soft, lush pastures roll out as far as the eye can see, all completely untouched by modern agriculture. The heart of Transylvania's pastoral landscape. This is where botanical fabric printer and artist Pauline Greuell found herself, immersed in a project that blends conservation and creativity.
For years, a British couple, James and Rachel de Candole, have been working to document and protect the floral biodiversity of this fragile ecosystem, inviting renowned botanical artists to the Transylvania School of Botanic Art at their home to record and celebrate the region’s plant life. Last summer, Pauline joined this endeavour, using her expertise in textile printing to create a collection of patterns inspired by the wild flora of the region.
Pauline’s work is intimately connected to nature. From her studio in Utrecht, Netherlands, she has spent years developing a unique stencil printing technique, layering brushes and transparent inks to create depth, texture, and movement within her designs. Influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement and the Wiener Werkstätte, her approach balances history with a personal, contemporary touch. Her stencil printing process, both slow and intentional, allows her to refine her inspiration, translating the essence of plants into striking, intricate designs.
In August 2024, Pauline travelled to the small Transylvanian farming village of Copßa Mare. The village itself is surrounded by farmed grassland, wood pasture and tens of thousands of hectares of oak, beech and hornbeam forest. Here, she joined two botanical artists and two botanists to explore and document the region’s plant life.
While the botanists collected specimens for a growing herbarium, the artists meticulously rendered plants in extraordinary detail. Pauline describes the contrast of her unique approach, saying, “While the botanists collected plants for the herbarium, the artists made astonishingly detailed representations of the plants that I too was drawing. But my process is so different. Like them, I start with simple sketches, but as they go in greater and greater detail as they strive for accuracy, I move towards simplicity. The technique that I use for printing my designs is a stencil printing technique that I have developed over the years. It asks for simplification of design and my style is also a style in which I take one idea that I associate with a source of inspiration and then stylise my designs around that idea.”
Her time in Copßa Mare culminated in a collection of three textile prints, each inspired by species flourishing in the summer meadows. Reflecting on the region’s biodiversity, Greuell says, “Working on this Transylvania collection, I found a common feeling in all the plants I was looking at and drawing, as well as in the land itself. A warm, raw, unrefined and wild authenticity, that was present everywhere I looked.” Using warm, earthy colours, the designs capture the wild and unrefined beauty of the land.
More than just an artistic endeavour, this collection is a call to action: 15% of proceeds from the sales of these prints will go toward efforts to conserve the grasslands and the traditional farming methods that sustain them. The conservation project at Copßa Mare highlights the urgent need to protect these highly valued landscapes from the encroachment of industrialised farming. As foreign investors introduce mechanised agriculture and chemical pesticides, the delicate balance that has allowed this biodiversity to thrive for centuries is at risk. Pauline’s work is both a tribute to Transylvania’s meadows and an act of advocacy, spreading awareness through design while directly supporting conservation efforts.
For Pauline, this project marks a turning point - her first fundraiser in which the subject of her work is directly tied to the cause it supports. Through her textiles, she hopes to share the story of Transylvania’s wild meadows with a global audience, inspiring others to recognise the beauty and great importance of preserving such landscapes. Her prints, now available in her online shop and gallery, offer a tangible connection to this endangered ecosystem, reminding us all of the power of art to foster awareness, appreciation, and action.
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Further Information:
Transylvania School of Botanic Art
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