Claudiu Oprea

Taking new Diploma apprentices?
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About me

Greetings all!
My name is Claudiu Oprea, I am Romanian born and bred and have lived in London for over 18 years. I am currently based in Goa, India, South East Asia, living the permaculture dream, running workshops and retreats that explore the intersections between permaculture, queerness and other healing practices such as yoga and using food as medicine. With my workshops and in tandem with my own journey to healing, I am invested in exploring where our health comes from, especially in urban environments.

In the UK and Europe I facilitated courses and workshops for business organisations, set up arts projects and workshops in schools, mentored design students, as well as working as a compere within the alternative London cabaret scene. I am drawn to creating safe learning environments that enable our connection with nature as a teacher. My earliest experience of teaching Permaculture was being approached by a business group to run a course for an urban, sustainability-oriented community group. It focused on the social aspect of applying the wisdom found in nature to human ecosystems.

I am fascinated by biomimicry and artworks inspired by nature’s sacred design. Natural installations have been an ongoing interest of mine as they inspire an innate fascination with the spectacle of nature.

In 2012, I co-created Biomodd London, where technology (in the shape of e-waste) meets with plants to create hybrid living computers. Plants are inserted in and around the electronics. Through gaming, the stunning sculptures demonstrate the potential for a meaningful relationship between these seemingly opposing worlds. It now exists in the capital as an open source, experimental art project.

I curated and co-led a multidisciplinary team, and we presented a thought provoking installation at TEDx London City 2.0 in December 2013. It was an experiment on plant intelligence, communication and sentience. My goal with the project was to ensure that all the scientific data and knowledge was delivered in an engaging way, where a 5 year old and a 95 year old left feeling stimulated and having learned something new. With a six week deadline and no budget it was both a great success and one of the best days of my life!

Please visit my website for further details of my permaculture and arts projects.

Educator experience

Apart from designing food growing spaces in the city (from community gardens to growing lots of fresh food in my own garden), I am curious to explore the cross overs between permaculture, the arts and other healing practices such as yoga, herbal medicine and exploring the question of where our health comes from, especially in the city, where most of us live.

I had the opportunity to weave together some of my passions for plants, people, technology (in the form of e-waste) in an open source art project. Biomodd London came to life in the form of an experiential and interactive installation art merging the usually opposing worlds of living biology and technology.
Biomodd is a nomadic co-created art project initiated by artist and space researcher Angelo Vermeulen. It had 20 iterations around the world in 10 years and is going strong. The first London iteration manifested in an experiment on plant communication, intelligence and sentience held at a TEDx London City 2.0 event in 2013. For more information and a short video of the event, visit my website.

I have enrolled on the diploma journey under Looby Macamara's mentorship. I am invested in exploring ways to help the paradigm shift in humans towards abundance vs scarcity thinking, co-operation vs competition and empowering key community members of disadvantaged minority groups.

I use the Design Web, created by Looby Macnamara as a tool to assist personal introspection ( I can see myself clearer under its lens), as well as assisting other students and practitioners on their design projects. Currently, I am exploring ways to engage with the Design Web as an interactive game to encourage learning through play.

I am invested in bringing permaculture into mainstream education and I am currently developing an "Outdoor edible classroom" project for a school of 50 pupils in Goa, India. This will serve as a safe food producing and learning space, where pupils can engage with maths, science, biology, astrology, water catchment, soils, composting, etc. The first stage was implemented in December 2017.

I completed teaching the first Yoga and Permaculture PDC in the Himalayas, India. I am designing a series of PDC certificate courses, retreats and workshops for 2018 that merge permaculture with other healing practices. We will be focusing on social permaculture, mental health, vegan foods and yoga. For more details please contact me on [email protected].

Educator skills

- social and urban permaculture
- creating safe spaces for learning and deep transformation
- facilitating learning for children and adults alike
- community activator
- care giver with own massage practice
- story telling
- creatively merging permaculture with other healing practices
- NVC and Restorative Justice
- listening

Technical skills:
- food growing
- soil building/composting
- tree planting
- building with natural materials (cob and adobe)
- creating furniture and art installations out of waste materials
- cooking to professional standards
- public speaking

Areas of interest:
- mental health ad health in general
- plant communication, intelligence and sentience
- social and urban permaculture
- bringing permaculture into mainstream education

Educator qualifications

Diploma in Public Service Interpreting - translating and interpreting in Criminal and Civil Law with Romanian - Middlesex University, 2004

Introduction to Permaculture - weekend course in April 2012 at Stepney City Farm, London - ran by Kevin Mascharenas and Cinzia Sarigu

PDC - Organic Lea, Hawkwood, London September 2012 Head tutor - Nicole Freris with help from Jilian Hovey and others

What a plant knows - University of Tel Aviv, August 2014 - 3 month long plant intelligence course with prof Danny Chamovitz

7 Ways to Think Differently March 2015 - experiential social permaculture course with Looby Macnamara, Peter Cow and Kerry Lane

TOT - Applewood Permaculture Centre, Heredfordshire 2015 - teacher training with Looby Macnamara, Rowe Marrow and Chris Evans

From Soil to Sky - University of Dundee & Permaculture Association Britain May 2017 - month long online course on soils with Prof Naomi Van Der Velden as one of the tutors