Flemish

I created a series of masks and headpieces inspired by one of the most captivating themes in painting for me—Flemish floral still life. I sought to reinterpret it in the context of contemporary design while faithfully recreating the flowers depicted by Flemish masters.

Photography by Lena Holkina.
Model Katya Berlin.
Assistants: Marie Munk, Anne Kromand Krogh.

Here you can see all the tools and materials I used in this work.

I selected paintings featuring flowers that I especially wanted to recreate from paper.

First, I selected a color palette and worked on textures that reflect the flowers from the references.

I integrate flowers into shapes that remind me of vases or other water containers, drawing a parallel between the way flowers are arranged and the way they are contained, both physically and symbolically. A vase holds water, preserving the fleeting beauty of a bloom, just as art captures a moment in time. I choose black paper for this, inspired by Flemish still-life paintings, where the dark background heightens the contrast and suggests themes of transience, mortality, and the delicate balance between life and decay.

I arrange the finished flowers into compositions on a black background, evoking the timeless beauty and symbolic richness of classical still-life paintings. The contrast between the fragile, handmade blooms and the dark void behind them reflects themes of transience, memory, and the passage of time.

I arranged the flowers into headpieces.

Photosession.