Circles: Golden Sun is inspired by the sun and its heat. The three discs represent joy, celebration and pays homage to our complex relationship with the sun. Its fiery mass is also bound up with our own apprehensions for the future.
Installation by ‘The Wild Society’, specialists in British-grown floral designs.
Installation by ‘Gypsy Rose Sets’, floral set designers with expertise spanning historic horticulture for period dramas, including Emma.
Floral designer and co-curator of the flower festival presents Lilian’s Doorway, an invitation to step inside. Created using dried florals recycled from a wedding, fresh foliage picked in the Surrey Hills combined with soft fabric and hard metal edges, the installation is a prelude to the creative juxtapositions of ‘Gloomth/Riant’ continued inside the House.
Rowan Spray draws on historical botanical illustration traditions as well as the photographic work of Karl Blossfeldt who isolates the subject from its environment. By elevating the subject in this manner, we are forced to look more closely than we might usually.
Pearl Watt of ‘Millefleur Pearl’ writes: ‘As creators designing with seasonal British flowers, we have a deeply rooted connection with the stems that pass through our tender hands. A love and passion for nature that you will feel woven into each exhibit. A love that has turned into heartbreak as we watched Britain’s wild flower meadows and cultivated flower fields wither in the heat that was 2026.Yet even in her fading beauty, Nature is an unfathomable poem. The kind of love letter that man could never rewrite.’
‘Flower & Press’ are a design-led, sustainability-focused floral studio. Their table installation in the Great Parlour takes inspiration from the building’s Gothic architecture and the paintings by James Reynolds displayed in the room.
Inspired by Horace Walpole’s ‘Gloomth’ interiors and the ‘Riant’ garden of Strawberry Hill House, this floral installation captures the essence of grief: ‘where there is dark, there is also light’. The gathered sheer silk organza features a poem written by Olivia Michaela, with words inspired by the equinox and the balance of day and night.
Olivia Michaela writes, ‘always inspired by the seasons, the piece aims to capture the tone of September, late summer and the cusp of the Autumn Equinox where day and night become equal yet again, and the equality of light and dark we also see in our seasons of life.’
The Stars Are New takes inspiration from The Star card in floral artist Daisy Alexander’s tarot deck. In tarot readings, the card holds various interpretations – reflecting connections to hope, renewal, purpose and growth. When reversed, the card reveals feelings of despair, disconnection and lack of faith in the universe. This installation pays homage to the light and the dark. The shrine-like space uses ‘Burning Ember’ tagetes (marigold), which glow like fiery stars amongst the earthly elements that lie between them (wood, water, glass, metal).
Picked Last Part II combines dried flowers gathered from gardens, curling sweet pea tendrils and dried roses. Each element is held within an intricate frame, woven by founder Jen Evans and her team as a tribute to the flower growers, specialist makers and florists who bring each floral design to life.
‘Flowers in French’ craft floral designs with movement and whimsical elements. This installation showcases playful, colourful blooms to create a contrast between the romance of the architecture and the vibrancy and movement of the flowers, in the spirit of ‘Gloomth/Riant’.
Bex is a floral artist whose work explores the intersection of nature, storytelling and place. Rooted in seasonality and a deep respect for the natural world, Bex creates ethereal, organic installations that respond to the rhythms of the garden and changing landscape. This installation explores the shapes, textures and muted tones caused by this year’s unprecedented hot weather and drought. She writes ‘as the landscape has faded and dried, I have found myself drawn to what remains: the bleached skeletons of plants, the delicacy of seed heads and the fragile architecture of stems. The installation is a study of that altered landscape’.
Joanna Game writes: ‘When designing I am always informed and inspired by my immediate surroundings and how they respond to season and weather conditions. The blue plinths were made to (hopefully) melt into the room each one topped with a fresh flower naturalistic arrangement mimicking the colours of fire and heat.’
India Martin writes: ‘Sun-bleached gold has been the colour threading its way through this summers events work, impossible to ignore. I’ve woven drying grasses and pale, crisping leaves into my design as a reflection of our parched and sunbaked landscape. Stooking is the traditional practice of gathering harvested corn into tapered stooks in the field allowing the crop to cure while protecting it from the elements. Inspired by the humble stook I have created my own sculptures echoing this ancient practice of sheltering – the precious pockets of life within represented by shocks of colour.’
We are One is a floral installation created by Layla made using materials collected from nature and flowers grown in her garden on the Welsh borders. She lets the wild unpredictability of nature and its relationship with humans inspire and guide her ideas, leading to new and unexpected designs. She writes ‘whatever WE do, nature will likely always quietly, patiently and persistently survive’.
Unbound Diaries explores a connection to nature shaped by generations of gardeners and farmers, where growing and the changing seasons become an instinctive language. The installation begins with observations and growing notes, which lift from the diary into a cloud of ideas and shared knowledge before forming into a sculptural vase arrangement. Using season-led, locally grown botanicals, the piece reflects the exhibition’s focus on sustainable floral practice while asking how our relationship with the natural world is absorbed, shared and carried forward.
Inspired by the interior history of Walpole’s bedchamber and traditional craftsmanship, this installation reinterprets historical flocking techniques, exploring our relationship with nature in an era of mass production and manipulation.
Melisa Zulu’s floral designs aims to connect a special occasion or moment to the season it took place, celebrating what can be found living and growing among us in our everyday lives.
‘Thistle by Nature’ draws on themes of seasonality, plant-lore, traditional uses of plants and ritualising points in the year with flower arranging to advocate connection to nature and its circularity.
‘Flowers’ is a project by interdisciplinary artist and set designer Molly M. Whawell. They write, ‘in the Print Room, a plane of metal cuts across the space, referencing the metal plates used in some printmaking processes. On this, flowers form playful, gestures, lines and colour.’
Ellie Mousourakie of ‘Flowers by Cosmos’ writes: ‘I’ve always felt inspired by our relationship with the natural world, a connection that took root In my childhood, playing freely in the olive groves of Crete. Cosmos translates to ‘all of creation’ in Greek. It encompasses the vastness of the universe, the skies, oceans, land and the ecosystems that sustain life. We believe there could be no more important time to reflect on our relationship with, and responsibility towards, protecting the natural world.Incorporating woven silk fabrics into our exhibition is one way of illustrating the complexity and fragility of our ecosystems. The interwoven threads reflect the delicate connections between the natural world and all the elements that depend upon one another.’
The installation was created with collaboration weaver Eloise Holmes.
Nest is Katie Isitt’s visual exploration of the tangled, messy and beautiful journey of motherhood. Weaved from nature over several months of collecting treasures found on walks with her daughter, it builds a safe space and creates a sense of place. The structure celebrates nature in all of its stages of life, protecting the delicate flower at its centre and encouraging it to thrive.
Jessy Winchester of ‘Blowth’ writes: ‘As a florist who grew up in Cornwall, I am deeply inspired by the coast and the landscape that shaped me. For this piece at Strawberry Hill, I wanted to showcase a flower that feels intrinsically connected to Cornwall – the Cornish Belladonna Lily, which flowers along our coast towards the end of summer, particularly in September. I have brought together elements of the Cornish coastline – a lobster pot, seaweed gathered from my local beach at Gyllyngvase and Belladonna Lilies that I carefully transported from Cornwall to London. The work is a celebration of place, bringing a small piece of the Cornish coast with me and allowing these natural materials to sit within the very different surroundings of Strawberry Hill.’
Preserve the Verge by Jessica Stokes of ‘Flower & Land’ explores the impact that early cutting of local verges can have on our native wildlife and biodiversity. The installation draws attention to what is so easily overlooked: the beauty, diversity and ecological importance of verges when they are given the opportunity to grow.
Founded over 15 years ago, ‘The Flower Appreciation Society’ is a thriving flower studio and brand-new shop based in De Beauvoir, Hackney. They use local independent growers and champion British flowers.
Lines, Divided & Drawn by Lizzie Walsh of ‘Clover & Tide’ explores the edges we encounter.
Walsh writes, ‘edges can be theoretical and abstract, and they can be real and felt. Between the wild and cultivated; between what’s valued and overlooked. As an autistic person, I feel them every day: between myself, my community, and wider society; between how I experience the world and how it’s expected to be experienced. Often these edges feel like barriers, ones that require so much energy to navigate.
Yet, some edges bring me peace. Tracing physical edges in my mind is a visual stim I’ve had for as long as I can remember tracing the lines that define spaces as a way to calm a busy mind. The ribbon weaving through my design is that visual line, the path my eyes follow when I stim, connecting what feels separate and bridging the gaps between. I invite visitors to consider: what edges do you draw, or experience? And how might you reimagine them?’
‘FFLOwear’ is a London based floral and spatial design studio working at the intersection of flowers and art. Derived from ‘flor’ the latin for flower and ‘wear’, the name reflects a way of experiencing flowers as something worn, felt and lived with, like a second skin or atmosphere.
Chappell grew up in a tiny village on the Gower Peninsula, surrounded by wild coastal flowers. Chappell writes, ‘I love bendy, twisty stems, seasonal quirks, and all the little imperfections that can make floral design feel so expressive. As much as I adore floral abundance, I’m just as fascinated by the beauty and simplicity of a single stem — something that’s grown since learning about ikebana and becoming an ikebana teacher.’
Caitlin Lunn is a florist and founder of Cyclamen, a floral art and design studio based in South East London. This piece uses the anthotype process, a 19th century photographic technique that transformed natural plant pigments into sun-exposes images. Lunn writes ‘one print was created using paprika and red dahlias, while the other uses turmeric and nasturtium. Arranged simply in front, the flowers become both subject and material, highlighting the versatility of seasonal plants and the many ways they can be transformed and used to make art’.
The Magnanimous Mother: In Nature There is No Waste draws on the organic forms of nests, habitat stacks and ‘bug snugs’, demonstrating how botanical waste can be part of a closed loop. By alluding to the hidden, magical ways that botanicals are recycled and reused to bolster new life in nature, this installation invites viewers to see that green waste too can be beautiful while also making space for renewal.
From subtropical cityscapes to temperate wild meadows, each turn in life has become nourishment, shaping the soul behind ‘Daisyzoom’. Rooted in Hong Kong for over a decade and now blooming in London, Semi’s practice continues to evolve between place, season and states of being. Inspired by the concepts of ‘gloomth’ and ‘riant’, the work considers life as a cycle of endings and beginnings. Dark, fading forms evoke the quietness of life’s end, while intertwining vines symbolise renewal, growth and new life. Semi writes, ‘life is always a cycle.’
This design is inspired by the intricate botanical detail found in Dutch Masters’ paintings with a contemporary twist. It captures the beauty of the changing seasons, bringing together hedgerow berries, textural grasses and delicate, budding blooms.
‘JamJar Flowers’ is a South London floral design studio working extensively with British-grown seasonal flowers and foliage, championing sustainable practices across the UK and beyond.
Edinburgh-based artist, Nymphaea champions all things Scottish grown with some ingredients foraged and others from Tomnaha. For Nymphaea, it is about ‘using what you can find in your local green spaces and putting your imagination to use. My piece is a little nod to the harvest season that is upon us and to the beginning of autumn.’
A British flowers pioneer, trailblazer of sustainable installations and innovative floral designer, Fiona Pickles is an experimental artist, photographer and educator – forever evolving, dabbling and experimenting with new techniques, methods and practices.
This installation, Parched, takes inspiration from our arid, fire-scorched landscape while playing homage to the room’s original purpose – a private treasure chamber for objects of curiosity. It showcases floral artistry alongside natural processes including paper sculpture and making, weaving, carbonised flowers and natural dyeing.
‘Queen of the Meadow’ is an eco-conscious floral design studio based in South Wales. This design uses flowers and foraged material sourced entirely from Wales. It takes inspiration from the Welsh landscape and the sudden early autumn South Wales has been plunged into following the summer drought.
The Helmet of Alfonso reimagines the fatal helmet from the prologue of Horace Walpole’s gothic masterpiece, ‘The Castle of Otranto’. The colossal helmet, ‘black-plumed and born of doom’, falls from nowhere and crushes young Conrad on the very day he was to be wed. A bridegroom lost before love could bloom. In flower, this piece carries that same dark romance: a memento mori for the immediate.
The marquee at this year’s festival celebrates British flowers and abundant foliage of late Summer. The stage area hosting talks and demonstrations is inspired by the working space or studio of a creative. In the cafe, dried flowers and parched stems reflect the repeated heatwaves and drought that have shaped this extraordinary growing season and delivered Autumn so much earlier this year.
