Project summary
Fern Designs is a creative AI project produced by an autistic artist.
It explores how the fern, as a living algorithm, can be combined with generative AI to create art.
The project includes elements of traditional nature journaling and autofiction.
I have started to put some work related to the project on my Instagram account fern._designs.
This is the beta version of this website. See the bottom of the page for more details.
The project will be fully launched on 31 August 2026. It will run for at least one year, and is best recognised as slow AI.
Note: There are ongoing updates to the About the Cultivator page.
Why the fern?
Ferns grow through repeating patterns, through iteration, through gentle unfolding, and through elegant structure.
Each frond is a smaller echo of the whole plant. A natural form of recursion that mathematicians recognise as fractal-like.
Examples of mathematics being used to model plant growth include L-systems (Lindenmayer Systems). The iconic Barnsley fern, meanwhile, uses a fractal process to generate a remarkably realistic fern from mathematics alone.
There is logic in the fern’s growth, but also the softness of living things. Order without rigidity.
For many neurodivergent people, and particularly autistic people, that balance can hold a quiet resonance:
Pattern as language
Many autistic people experience the world through patterns first and foremost. Ferns are pattern made visible.
Repetition without conformity
Ferns repeat themselves without ever becoming copies. Structure remains, but each unfolding carries small differences. Pattern here is not conformity, but living variation.
Growth through unfolding
Ferns don’t burst into existence fully formed. They unfurl slowly, coil by coil. That mirrors a way of thinking and creating that isn’t linear or rushed, but layered.
A form of refuge
Ferns often grow low, forming cover. There’s a metaphor here for creating spaces, visual or conceptual, that feel like refuges, an escape from being overwhelmed.
Quiet persistence
No dramatic blooms, just steady presence. That kind of endurance can feel more relatable for autistic people than the pressure to be constantly visible, and present, in a neurotypical world.
Beta version
This is a beta/test version of this site. The full version will be launched on 31 August 2026. Expect spelling and grammar errors as I have dyslexia, and I’m not thoroughly checking things until the site is fully launched. If you want to give feedback, please go the Contact page.
Apologies to the people who I gave a web address for this project as far back as last December. Due to the issues detailed on the About the Cultivator page it has taken me five months to do what people with similar skills could do in two weeks.
FERN DESIGNS 