Photo by Billie Charity
Hay Castle. Hay Festival Winter Weekend 2022
PROJECTS
Strawberry Hill Flower Festival 2022
My design for this flower festival exhibit was named ‘Sunshine & shadow’
It is a completely new design and the first of its kind. A double-sided willow framed window, in the form of a narrow delicate see-through box, with two distinct separate wire-backed flower meadows on either side, one is bright, colourful, and happy, and the other is muted, shadowy and subtle. The idea for this was inspired by the yin and yang of life, the two simultaneous sides we all live with, light and dark. How in times of apparent darkness, there is often a bright side that will emerge from it, something wonderful and unforeseen. When viewed with light behind it, it resembles an illuminated stained glass layered window of flowers.
I have used the widest variety of dried flowers, grasses and seedheads I have ever used in a single sculpture before! I wanted this to be an inspiration of what is dryable, and how it can be viewed and examined up close in this way. There are tulips, ranunculus, narcissi, french marigold, many foraged grasses, rudbeckia, larkspur, aquiligia, and many many more!
Flaming Lady Of Hay window installation June 2022
A stage curtain of rich, vibrant dried flowers. This was a dramatic interior installation for a beautiful historic Shop window display that would last. It reflected the quirky, colourful, soulful energy of the shop within.
Taittinger Champagne 2022
A floral design for a collaborative Instagram champagne giveaway campaign with Taittinger Champagne and Bafta Cymru. I designed, created, and photographed a striking everlasting floral design, especially paired with a bottle of Taittinger champagne, and posted it on my Instagram feed and stories. This was a special giveaway to celebrate the Bafta Cymru Awards 2022 in Cardiff.
Oriel Davies Gallery, Newtown Powys Spring 2022
‘A suspended everlasting blossom forest’ This was part of an exhibition containing a Rembrandt masterpiece that was on tour from the National Gallery. The beautiful 1635 portrait of Rembradts wife Saskia van Uylenburgh, sits radiant in Arcadian costume, surrounded by flowers and greenery. The suspended blossom forest made from 2-3 meter suspended hazel trees decorated with strawflowers and eucalyptus leaves, was designed to be an immersive experience, bringing to mind not just a sense of arcadia, but also touching on the Welsh folktale of the Mabinogion flower goddess Blodeuwedd. I worked in collaboration with Lewis Prosser, Basket-maker/nature sculptor, Andrea Gilpin, Wild Meadow photographer, and Sean Vicary, whose work adorned the walls creating a wonderful marriage of the old masterpiece, folklore, myth, and the present day, allowing your imagination to run wild. This installation was in place for three months and looked great for the duration.
Wreath making for Extraordinary escapes, CH4 2023
Set design and walk-on filming part, teaching Sandi Toksvig and Roisin Conaty to make everlasting flower wreaths for season three of Extraordinary Escapes, episode 3, Ch4. It was filmed in the beautiful location of Hergest Lee, a holiday let near Kington Herefordshire.
Roger Oates entrance archway installation February 2022
Hazel and birch branches, decorated with a subtle palette of dried grasses, flowers, and seeds. This large wild-themed left-sided archway was created from a rambling abundance of ivy, heads, traveler’s joy, and delicate tendrils of catkin branches. Mounted on the exterior of the shop in early spring, it was designed to withstand an outside environment, with the view of it being moved inside at a later date. The theme was ‘spring’ as well as a range of flower colours to reflect the shop window display behind it.
Hay Festival Winter Weekend 2021
A suspended festive installation at the apex of a large marquee brings drama, fun, and sparkle on a large scale. The aim of this design was to create something a bit “different” to encourage thought and quizzical interest of nature as a variation of the traditional take on the festive season. I teamed up with artists Kate Kato of Kasasagi Design, and Jemima Stilwell to create a mixed-media design, suspended at different levels down the length of the marquee. I made four huge 3 x 1.5m flower clouds consisting of all foraged birch, bracken, grasses, travelers’ joy, leaves, and foliage. Between these hung Kate Kato’s tumbling oversized paper oak leaves, large life-like flying moth replicas all made from recycled paper and card, and Jemima Stilwell’s 2D large cardboard birds soaring in between. Ball fairy lights and paper pompoms interspersed the whole design to give it a sparkly, light airy feel.
hay Festival Winter Weekand November 2018
Festive canopy décor for the ceiling of a large festival marquee. The design consisted of five 2m hazel wreaths hung horizontally along the center of the marquee above the heads of the public bar area below. Each wreath was festooned in swags of birch branches, alliums, travelers’ joy, honesty, evergreen oak, and other leaves and foliage. The effect was a dramatic wild winter vibe, creating a sense of woodland atmosphere overhead. I created this installation alongside Rosanna Bulmer and Jody Parry (of Light Industries).
Hay Festival Winter Weekend , Hay Castle November 2022
Situated in the main hall in Hay Castle, this installation worked around a large high-ceilinged public space and festival stage. Two large five-meter rambling and wayward garlands made of hazel branches, birch, travellers joy and colourful everlasting flowers wove their way around the ancient stone walls bringing a vibrant, wild, and ethereal quality to the space. Giant irregularly sized paper stars made by Kate Kato of Kasasagi design hung randomly from the branches adding a beautiful festive touch. Her bewitching paper life-like mushroom and toadstool sculptures could be glimpsed in nooks and crannies throughout the room too. On the stage I created a large three-meter-high everlasting blossom tree, delicately adorned with hundreds of white strawflowers. This was a striking and different festive look for the winter festival. Two large windows facing the town were decorated with trailing ethereal strands of honesty, bracken-fronds, and dried flowers, creating beautiful delicate silhouettes against the light.
Russell Brand Community Hay-on-Wye July 2022
For this, I created a mammoth three-and-a-half-meter majestic flower-cloud, hung overhead on the main stage. It consisted of a wild twiggy frame of hazel and birch, decorated in neutral and white dried flowers and foliage, making it dramatic but delicately translucent. It was a real ‘wow’ factor to have above the performers, framing them with its wild eye-catching nature, and textural movement.
Chapters Restaurant Hay-on-Wye February 2023
A large flower cloud for the the restaurant window. Designed using white and neutral colours, the cloud was made to be a long irregular shape that would allow light to filter through it. The look was minimal and elegant, using pampas grass and honesty as a main base.
Russel Brand Community Festival 2022