A new kind of floristry for Dubai
Our brand for Fine Blooms, a new breed of floral design studio for Dubai.
We were invited to help the business establish a unique creative vision, and introduce a boldly different kind of floristry to the region. We brought in London-based florist Hattie Fox as founding creative director, to devise the distinctive style that would form the core of the brand.
With deep roots in both European and Arabian cultures, Fine Blooms is like no other florist in the world. Their unconventional approach is led by their commitment to seasonality and a belief in the power of flowers to transform space with colour, energy and life.
Since launching with a living exhibition at Dubai Design Week, Fine Blooms’ eye for dramatic sculptural forms and vivid, maximalist colour has attracted attention internationally. A series of events and artist collaborations has continued to enrich their connection to wider culture, extending their influence far beyond the world of flowers.
Now in the hands of creative director Chloe Szukilojc, the business continues to go from strength to strength, with a string of recent high profile commissions for the likes of Harpers Bazaar and Esquire.
Luxury in every detail
The brand is animated by a constant tension between the cultural position of flowers as a historic source of inspiration for artists, writers and thinkers, and the untamed abundance of the natural world. Overtly classical elements — luxuriant black and white packaging, and a typographic style based upon the work of William Caslon* — offer a striking contrast to the rich imagery of lush botanical forms.
The visual heart of the brand is its distinctive photographic style, inspired by traditions of European fine art — the still life compositions and rich colour of the Dutch Golden Age, and the painterly expression of the post-Impressionist era.
There’s also an innate tactility across the brand, from a logo that was conceived as a sculpted emboss, to the spot varnishes and textured papers of the pocket-sized brand book, designed to evoke the sensual experience of a visit to Universal Design Studio’s store interior.
*We chose English 1766, a contemporary interpretation of Caslon by Henrik Kubel, following a lunchtime visit to Caslon’s family grave in Old Street, just down the road from our studio. It’s a beautiful example of a font with very traditional roots, drawn in a contemporary style that makes it supremely usable.
