Designing with flowers: Marcin Rusak’s tribute to spring
Like a spring garden compacted into a piece of furniture, Marcin Rusak’s ‘Flora’ cabinet features colourful dried flowers peeking from a milky surface

Marcin Rusak has designed a new cabinet featuring a colourful floral composition peeking from under a milky surface. Rusak’s furniture designs have traditionally been characterised by the use of flowers (a result of his upbringing near his family’s flower-growing business), and while one recent endeavour was a brand focusing on metal furniture design, it is his unique approach to flowers that continues to define his output.
This new cabinet was commissioned by a private client through New York’s Twenty First Gallery, and features Rusak’s signature concept for the Flora series – flowers in resin – in a new, brighter version. The designer and the client curated the selection of flowers included in the piece, and the result feels like a spring garden with peonies, mimosa, hydrangea, agapanthus and more, in dreamy pastel tones of pink, yellow and green.
Rusak’s previous works in the Flora collection – which includes tables, lighting and storage furniture, with varied compositions and species of flowers – largely feature dark resin. ‘The original material is reminiscent of a dark pond, where the flowers sit just below the surface,’ he says.
‘For the new material, the inspiration came from nature itself and the beauty of frozen lakes that encapsulate flora during the winter time,’ continues Rusak. ‘It took us two years to develop a new formula for a misty white Flora material. We wanted to keep the visual effect that we achieved with black Flora.’
Rusak’s recent foray into metalwork is also referenced in this piece, its shape defined by waxed aluminium planes that form a framework. The white resin, meanwhile, is set to feature among Rusak’s future floral furniture designs.
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Rosa Bertoli was born in Udine, Italy, and now lives in London. Since 2014, she has been the Design Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees design content for the print and online editions, as well as special editorial projects. Through her role at Wallpaper*, she has written extensively about all areas of design. Rosa has been speaker and moderator for various design talks and conferences including London Craft Week, Maison & Objet, The Italian Cultural Institute (London), Clippings, Zaha Hadid Design, Kartell and Frieze Art Fair. Rosa has been on judging panels for the Chart Architecture Award, the Dutch Design Awards and the DesignGuild Marks. She has written for numerous English and Italian language publications, and worked as a content and communication consultant for fashion and design brands.
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