Every third breath we take has oxygen produced from phytoplankton photosynthesis.

If good things come in small packages then the microscopic world is a very exciting parcel indeed. We are surrounded by micro-organisms. Life started billions of years ago with microbes and there have been microscopic wars waged and pacts created ever since, driven by the need to adapt to a changing environment. There are microscopic organisms that support larger organisms like the beautiful relationship between algae and coral polyps and those that seek to exploit like the infection of algae by pathogens. All of this is for survival.

Discover the inspiration behind the Flora Collection. Algae are a large and diverse collection of organisms living almost everywhere on the planet where there is water. They range from microscopic individual organisms invisible to the naked eye, to the more familiar coastal seaweed. Like plants, algae have the ability to photosynthesise, or put simply, make energy from the sun.

This is the story behind the Gachon Collection. Algae, or seaweed, play a vital role in marine ecology, providing shelter and food for marine life, think kelp forests, and also in human life, both as a source of food and animal feed. Seaweed is currently being cultivated on a test site off the Isle of Kerrera, Scotland for a multitude of uses including food, fertiliser and cosmetics. We are yet to identify how cultivated seaweed will interact with native populations. Therefore, understanding algae – what makes them thrive and what makes them vulnerable to disease-causing pathogens and parasites – are an increasingly important area of scientific research.