JOE BRENNAN

The historic factory site of Spode Works in Stoke-on-Trent has been home to world-class ceramics manufacture since the 1760s. After the Spode company went into liquidation in 2008, the factory site was abandoned, and nature began to reclaim the space. Buddleia grew freely throughout the site, with the neglected factory buildings providing a safe haven for the fast-growing shrub. From expansive 10-foot-high bushes in the old clay end of the factory to smaller plants nestling in the cracks of stonework three storeys high, Buddleia quickly began to dominate large swathes of the site.

In recent years, parts of the site have been regenerated by the Spode Museum, ACAVA, the Potbank Café and Hotel, and Stoke-on-Trent City Council, who own the site and have formulated a plan for its regeneration. To humans, Buddleia is classed as a nuisance plant: its roots take hold in the smallest cracks, loosening already vulnerable stonework and letting in water. Yet, outside of the narrow gaze of the property developer, Buddleia provides the perfect environment for native bees and butterflies to flourish, earning it the moniker of The Butterfly Bush. Each summer, for a brief period, the site becomes awash with Tortoiseshell Butterflies as they simultaneously emerge from their cocoons.

Buddleia was also the name of one of the first Chinese-inspired patterns produced at Spode Works in the 1780s, so called because the stylised Chinese plant bore a close resemblance to the native Buddleia, which presumably—then as now—grew freely around the factory site.

As the gentrification of the site continues, the Buddleia will be lost, and so too will the butterflies. This project aims to highlight the importance of “unwanted” plants such as, but not limited to, Buddleia, and the role they play in localised ecosystems; to document the changing environment of Spode Works; and to engage artists and the public with the flora and fauna of industrialised landscapes.