London Fashion Week Mulberry

In 2012, plantART was approached by McQueens, the internationally renowned London florist, with an extraordinary idea: combine fresh floral arrangements with large artificial silver birch trees to stage Mulberry's spring/summer collection at Claridge's, for London Fashion Week.

The design called for two wide arches formed by artificial birch trees, each carrying a canopy of multi-coloured fresh flowers and suspended lizards - a stage-set-like wall decoration at the head of the catwalk.

The engineering was the real story. Fresh flowers weigh far more than silk, so our usual artificial blossom construction wasn't enough. Working with an expert metalwork fabricator, plantART designed a strong, lightweight steel core for each silver birch trunk - and because nothing could be fixed to the floor or the back wall, the semi-trees had to be 100% self-supporting.

After four months of preparation, the finished display received just fifteen minutes of exposure to the world's media - and looked flawless for every one of them.

plantART regularly builds customised artificial blossom and floral trees for events, retail displays and visual merchandising. Browse our synthetic tree ideas or talk to us about your event.