22.03.2026

Journal Talks - IVY LAB Redefining Faux Flowers

Blossoms, petals, pistils, and stems can instantly brighten a gloomy day or serve as a gesture of love and care. They can be given as a small, handpicked bouquet from a child or be celebrated in poetry and music. The crown jewel of a plant has inspired and uplifted humankind for ages.

Photo cred: Mikael Lundblad

Ivy Lab is a Stockholm-based faux flora design studio founded by Bim Tysander, Maria Kangärde and Sofie Ganeva, three creatives whose backgrounds span interior design, fashion and floristry. Together, they create sculptural floral arrangements using carefully curated faux florals, designed as lasting interior pieces rather than temporary decorations, with each composition treated like an object or garment, focused on proportion, texture and silhouette.

Their shared vision is to offer a more sustainable, design-led alternative to short-lived fresh flowers: faux flora that feels and looks like nature itself, yet remains beautiful for years.

For someone encountering you for the first time, how would you describe what you do?

We create sculptural floral arrangements using carefully curated faux florals, designed as lasting interior pieces rather than temporary decorations.

Our work sits somewhere between interior design, fashion and floristry. Each arrangement is composed with the same attention to proportion, texture and silhouette that you would give to an object or a garment. The idea is simple: faux flora that feels and looks like nature itself, but remains beautiful long after fresh flowers would have faded.

What initially attracted you to faux flora specifically?

All three of us love real flowers, but we became aware of the paradox: something incredibly beautiful yet so short-lived that it disappears within days.

Especially in Scandinavia, fresh flowers often travel long distances and are constantly replaced. The question that became the starting point for Ivy Lab was: can we create floral arrangements that retain the emotional and visual impact of flowers, while staying beautiful and becoming more like objects, a true part of the interior, without the need to be thrown away?

When you established Ivy Lab, what gap or need did you see that traditional floristry or décor wasn’t fulfilling?

Faux florals often fall into two extremes: either unconvincing or purely practical, with little aesthetic direction. We felt something was missing in between, a more design-driven approach. Something curated, restrained and architectural.

Our aim was to treat faux flora the way fashion houses and interior architects treat materials: elevating and recontextualising them to create something that feels both modern and timeless.

Sustainability is at the heart of your work. In your own words, what does a “more sustainable flower” look like, and how does that shape your decisions?

For us, sustainability is closely tied to longevity. A more sustainable flower is one that doesn’t need to be replaced every week, and an arrangement that can exist in a space for years rather than for a limited number of days.

We want to create something people want to keep, that feels believable and timeless rather than trend-driven.

When starting a new project, what usually comes to mind first for you: a story, a colour palette, a mood, or a specific plant shape?

Usually it begins with a mood, which then becomes the starting point for a palette, a colour, a texture, a form or a piece of art. The choice of flowers can introduce drama, structure or softness.

Where do you most often find inspiration, real gardens, art, fashion, architecture, or everyday city moments?

All of them, but especially fashion and architecture. Fashion has a beautiful way of working with contrast, bold silhouettes combined with subtle textures. Architecture teaches restraint and proportion. Those influences often shape how we compose our arrangements.

But inspiration can also come from very simple moments: the way branches lean toward the light or how colours shift in different settings.

When you first heard the theme for Shady Garden's campaign, what did it instinctively make you feel or envision?

It immediately evoked something quiet, slightly deep and mysterious. A hidden garden not in bright, full sun, but an intimate space where flowers and plants grow slowly in filtered light, where textures are layered, and the atmosphere feels calm.

The installation invites you to imagine stepping into a shaded garden, a place that feels still, slightly wild, and a little unexpected. Delicate layers of netting sweep organically around the flowers, creating a sense of movement and enclosure.

Shady gardens are linked to the play between light and shadow. How did you interpret that through colour and texture in the installation?

We wanted to reflect the fragrance in our choice of faux florals. Texture became just as important as colour. Some elements feel light and airy, like the mesh sculpture that seems to float in the space, while the faux florals add depth and shadow through their colour choices. That balance helps the installation feel layered, as if plants naturally overlap in a garden.

Were there particular plants, memories or real locations that directly inspired this “shady garden” window?

When creating the window installation, it was less about a specific plant and more about recreating the atmosphere of quiet spaces where flowers and plants grow in softer light, under trees or along stone walls.

How do you hope this project changes or informs the way people think about faux flowers and long-lasting arrangements?

We hope it expands the perception of what faux florals can be, something thoughtful, creative, design-led and long-lasting. Our purpose is not to imitate traditional bouquets. Faux florals can be sculptural, modern, playful and emotionally engaging.