Photo: Shannon Clegg
Instead of placing flowers inside a vase, Shannon Clegg uses plants and blooms to construct the vessel itself. The UK-based artist employs her background in tailoring, crafts, and design to form exquisite objects from natural materials. This ongoing series, titled Bouquet, features vase-like sculptures constructed from colorful flowers that have been dried and pressed.
Originally from Cape Town, South Africa, Clegg has had a lifelong love for flora and traditional arts and crafts. After relocating to London, she sought out a creative practice that would merge her interests, leading to the project of biophilic design. Each of these ethereal pieces is made using Clegg’s unique hand-mold process, which she developed after researching methods of storing flowers at The Herbarium at The Royal Botanic Garden at Kew.
Every aspect of this art form requires time and patience. First, Clegg forages plants in nature, finding suitable pieces for her vision. After they are cut, she preserves them through flower pressing; however, rather than simply pressing them flat, the botanicals are dried in the shape of a hollow vase with the assistance of mesh. Overall, this process can take up to six weeks, but once the sculptures are preserved, they are capable of lasting anywhere from two weeks to five years, depending on the types of plants used and other variables.
You can see Clegg’s work in person at BeCraft in Brussels, Belgium, until February 12, 2023, and at the Collect Art Fair at the Somerset House in London from March 3 to March 5, 2023. To learn how to commission your own vase, you can visit Clegg’s website, and be sure to follow the artist on Instagram to keep up to date with her latest projects and exhibitions.
UK-based artist Shannon Clegg forms vases entirely from dried plants.
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Shannon Clegg
She begins by collecting various botanicals that she finds in nature.
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Afterward, Clegg cuts and presses them in a hollow vase-like shape with the assistance of mesh.
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Anna Olszewska
Once these pieces are dry, they can last anywhere from two weeks to five years.
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Anna Olszewska
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Anna Olszewska
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Anna Olszewska
Photo: Anna Olszewska
Photo: Anna Olszewska
Photo: Anna Olszewska
Photo: Shannon Clegg
Photo: Shannon Clegg