On Saturday 6 September, we built our wormery with Emma and Sam from WormWise, and the people came along to help.

Here is a gallery of the process by Gemma, Emma and Sam. Thank you to everyone who came along.

To celebrate the arrival of the worms and wormery, we commissioned artist Olivia Azzopardi to convert one of the pallets our bamboo arrived in.

We asked Olivia to tell us about her and the work she’s created with and for us:

Wonderful Wormery Planter (2025)

Jigsaw cut mdf worms and plants on a wood pallet, enamel paint, varnish lacquer.

Olivia Azzopardi was commissioned to create an interactive, bright and playful three-dimensional mural on a reclaimed wood pallet planter for Brilliant Bamboo’s recent workshop ‘Wonderful Worms’: which aimed to demonstrate how we can create healthy and inexpensive composting for gardening through making worm homes also known as a wormery.

This sculptural mural combines inspiration from 00s nostalgic cartoons and anime, growing up in the countryside in Kent, and her artistic practice that centres on Archaeology, human-nature exchanges, climate change and the Anthropocene.

“I found the process of this 3D mural to be my most challenging illustrative commission to date. It was wonderful to experience the serene atmosphere of the Brilliant Bamboo outdoor site. I got to create this work split across a few weekends, and at each stage, I managed to figure out what organically fits together, responding to the environment around me as I went along. With the amazing support from Gemma, I managed to create this artwork while battling the elements! I learnt ways in which I can improve on a more sustainable approach the next time I paint murals, from the type of wood and paint to the laquer. And now, after a few weeks of making it, we have happy, gleaming and glistening worms to keep our wormery safe and colourful!”

Here are some photographs of Olivia’s finished artwork.

And some fun photos of the process:

Now, the worms have a home, an artwork to live in – the next challenge is to continue to feed them and harvest the compost. Thank you to for all those who came along – let us know how your vermiculture/wormery is going too.

Thank you to Emma Lilley, Sam Evans and Olivia Azzopardi.

You can help us at the Brownfield Parklet take care of the plants and worms by volunteering with Brilliant Bamboo, get in touch or sign up to the newsletter.