Poppies, hollyhocks and the lesser known moon carrot are spreading their way across rugs, fabrics and furniture this autumn as a national obsession with rewilding plays out in living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens across Britain.
Cottagecore – a loose term covering fashion, interiors and gardens which evoke an idealised vision of country life – has been a dominant lifestyle trend for a while. Floral homeware – bloomcore if you must – gives a hit of botanic style without going for the full rustic aesthetic.
The bloomcore hashtag has more than 2.5m views on TikTok, and searches for “floral aesthetic” on Pinterest have grown by 108% in the past six months. One of the big style hits from And Just Like That, the Sex and the City sequel, was the wallpaper in Carrie Bradshaw’s New York apartment. The print was an outsized floral, designed by Sarah Jessica Parker.
The secondhand furniture marketplace Narchie reports that sales of floral homeware – everything from candles to tablecloths – have increased 60% in the last year. John Lewis’s new Japonica print has become an autumn bestseller in wallpaper. Hollyhocks have drawn the most customers for the luxury lifestyle brand House of Hackney, in wallpapers and textiles.
“We’ve recently seen a move towards dark florals, with searches up on our website and Pinterest,” says Frieda Gormley, co-founder of House of Hackney. “In the US, our poppy-strewn bohemian Opia print is fast becoming one of our most popular designs, while this side of the pond we’re loving the more romantic chintzy-but-chic florals.”
JamJar Edit is an online shop specialising in pressed flower art and decorated furniture. Founders Melissa Alexander and Amy Fielding also run a floral design studio. Fielding thinks that flower designs inside the home help people connect to nature outside.
“There’s something very nostalgic about pressed flowers that appeals to people,” says Fielding. “A botanical artwork or dried flower arrangement is an inexpensive and elegant way to bring nature into the home.”
Research suggests that a connection to the natural world can have an impact on people’s health and wellbeing. Biophilic design – which acknowledges humans’ natural affinity with nature – is an increasing consideration for architects and urban planners. Even looking at images of plants and flowers can be effective.
Bridie Dunbabin works at Designs in Mind, a social enterprise in Oswestry, Shropshire, employing designers with experience of mental health issues. The studio has just created a kitchenware range for Habitat decorated with flower motifs.
“When we received the brief, we had a discussion with members to find what represented a ‘happy place’ for them,” says Dunbabin. “It centred on nurturing plants and watching them flourish. That was seen as a positive experience. It has been found that the mere presence of flowers and plants in our surroundings reduces stress and anxiety levels.”
The psychological impact of flowers is at the heart of a project by the artists Lee Baker and Catherine Borowski. Graphic Rewilding creates flower-based installations for city landscapes – decorating shopping centres, vacant lots and billboards with brightly coloured flowers. In the summer they “rewilded” the Westfield London shopping centre by painting the walls with 8-metre high wildflowers, designs created by Baker.
the home. Photograph: Helen Cathcart
“About 10 years ago, I had a breakdown,” says Baker, “and one of the only things that soothed my mind was drawing flowers. The journey of taking my intimate artworks and blowing them up huge has been immensely cathartic. I used to be almost embarrassed of these drawings, that perhaps they would be judged as unmasculine, populist or shallow.”
Graphic Rewilding has now created floral wallpapers of their designs. An art installation featuring rare plants such as the yellow-horned poppy and the moon carrot will decorate the King Charles III England Coastal Path around Seaford Head and Cuckmere Haven in East Sussex this month. They also have a show at the Royal Society of Sculptors which runs until January.
Gormley says she lives and breathes florals at House of Hackney. “Given the range of design inspiration flowers give us, it also means there doesn’t have to be one ‘floral look’ – you can truly find something to make your own. Buy what you love, not what’s on trend. That way you will treasure it for years to come.”
