Saatchi Gallery is in full bloom with floral works from Vivienne Westwood, Marimekko, Buccellati and more
‘Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture’ at Saatchi Gallery, London, explores the relationship between creatives and their floral muses, and spans from fashion and jewellery to tattoos

Flowers and fashion are entangled together in a new exhibition at Saatchi Gallery in London. ‘Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture’ explores how flora inspires creatives in various fields, and displays works by the likes of fashion house Vivienne Westwood and Finnish lifestyle design house Marimekko.
‘Flowers- Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture’
The exhibition, at the gallery's Kings Road, Chelsea base, seeks to reveal myriad ways that flowers are interpreted by artists within contemporary culture. It takes over two floors and nine gallery spaces, with large-scale installations, photography, archival objects, fashion, and graphic design.
Archival pieces vary from high-street to haute-couture designs. There's symbolism intricate texture, romanticism and natural beauty. British designer Vivienne Westwood shared her love for and knowledge of flowers in her designs. With her iconic punk aesthetic, floral prints were used to explore femininity and revelation throughout her collections, blending the avant-garde and delicacy.
Jewellery house Buccellati, which supports the exhibition, presents six hyperrealist floral brooches. These rare pieces include the 1929 Orchid and 1960s Daisy brooches, both crafted by founder Mario Buccellati, and Gianmaria Buccellati’s 1991 Begonia brooch with matching earrings. All are a tribute to the maison’s ‘stylistic identity’.
Schiaparelli, meanwhile, presents a 2024 haute couture wedding dress designed by Daniel Roseberry. The dress is garnished in three-dimensional hand-painted leather hydrangeas, parrot tulips, orchids and daisies, on a canvas of white silk taffeta.
Floral abstractions have been a Marimekko signature since textile designer Maija Isola’s prints from the 1960s, despite the brand’s founder Armi Ratia’s belief that ‘the beauty of flowers could not be captured in an artwork’. Now, Marimekko prints are an inspiration for a new generation of designers, including recent works by Helsinki-based graphic designer Antti Kekki, whose modern floral depictions ‘capture Marimekko's joyful and artistic essence through a fresh lens’.
The exhibition also features works by tattoo artist Daniel the Gardener, which are inspired by the relationship each client has with plants. The exhibition is a tribute to the beauty of flowers and how creatives bring them into everyday life.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
‘Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture’ is on display at Saatchi Gallery until until 5 May 2025 saatchigallery.com
Tianna Williams is Wallpaper*s staff writer. Before joining the team in 2023, she contributed to BBC Wales, SurfGirl Magazine, Parisian Vibe, The Rakish Gent, and Country Life, with work spanning from social media content creation to editorial. When she isn’t writing extensively across varying content pillars ranging from design, and architecture to travel, and art, she also helps put together the daily newsletter. She enjoys speaking to emerging artists, designers, and architects, writing about gorgeously designed houses and restaurants, and day-dreaming about her next travel destination.
-
Join our world tour of contemporary homes across five continents
We take a world tour of contemporary homes, exploring case studies of how we live; we make five stops across five continents
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
'Imagine if new technologies were rooted in empathy': women, computing and radical software in Vienna
'Radical Software: Women, Art & Computing 1960–1991' doesn’t pretend to portray the totality of tech in art, instead taking the specific 31-year period of the title to shed light upon 48 women artists who engaged critically with computation
By Will Jennings Published
-
A brutalist house in Spain embraces its wild and tangled plot
House X is a formidable, brutalist house structure on a semi-rural plot in central Spain, shaped by Bojaus Arquitectura to reflect the robust flora and geology of the local landscape
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Sylvie Fleury's work in dialogue with Matisse makes for a provocative exploration of the female form
'Drawing on Matisse, An Exhibition by Sylvie Fleury’ is on show until 2 May at Luxembourg + Co
By Hannah Silver Published
-
What to see at BFI Flare film festival, 'a rich tapestry of queer experience'
As one of the only film festivals to explicitly profile LGBTQI+ cinema, BFI Flare Film Festival remains a unique and beloved event. Here's what to see as it makes its return to London from 19 - 30 March
By Billie Walker Published
-
The enduring appeal of Transport for London’s seat designs
From artist Rita Keegan’s new collage to fashion designer Adam Jones’ Overground suit, TfL moquettes continue to enjoy a cult status
By Kyle MacNeill Published
-
‘There's a lot to fear and a lot to love in this world’: Penny Goring unveils new work in London
A new collection of large-scale collages takes centre stage at 'Penny Goring: Cold Hunt Corsage' at Arcadia Missa, London
By Hannah Silver Published
-
‘Leigh Bowery!’ at Tate Modern: 1980s alt-glamour, club culture and rebellion
The new Leigh Bowery exhibition in London is a dazzling, sequin-drenched look back at the 1980s, through the life of one of its brightest stars
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
‘Yay, To Have a Mouth!’: a London show explores our oral fixation, from Freud to fairytales
This group show at Rose Easton gallery in east London, created in collaboration with Ginny on Frederick, uncovers our fascination with the mouth
By Emily Steer Published
-
High low culture and the sickly sweetness of Tootsie Rolls: Derrick Adams in London
Derrick Adams plays with themes of Black Americana in ‘Situation Comedy’ at Gagosian London.
By Hannah Silver Published
-
The Barbican as muse: composer Shiva Feshareki on bringing the brutalist icon to life through music
For the last two years, British-Iranian experimental composer and turntablist Shiva Feshareki has been drawing on the Barbican’s hidden history as a gateway for her new piece. She talks to Wallpaper* about her Brutalist muse
By El Hunt Published