This year the RHS has selected floral design collective La Famille and Chelsea first-timers to reimagine thecelebrated Tunnel installation at this year’s Flower Show. Entitled Natural Kinaesthesia, La Famille's creative director Paul Malget with garden designer Lara Behr, will be creating a lush labyrinth of physical exchanges between man-made and naturally-crafted elements, moulding an interior landscape that takes its cues from wabi-sabi and celebrates the uncontrollability of nature.
Paul is not your average florist opting to use weeds and discarded greenery to create his works, rather than cut flowers. Natural Kinaesthesia hosts an array of shade loving plants and flowers that are settled beneath the foliage based suspended ceiling. Visitors will follow natural hazel and willow arcs that sweep from floor to ceiling, and be met with a range of metal lanterns from sculptor Julian Wild and orbs constructed by wood craftsman Guy Lambourne of Wassledine in Bedfordshire.
The installation also references the tree-lined streets of Savannah Georgia, USA with its indigenous, beguiling and unruly Spanish Moss. Supported by Visit Savannah the tunnel will emulate the beautiful canopies that adorn the streets, squares and parks around the city. La Famille have also been supported by the team at Borde Hill in Sussex who helped the team forage for foliage, cuttings and greenery from the heritage garden.
The tunnel connecting Main Avenue and Ranelagh Gardens has been produced in previous years by florists and floral designers, most notably by artist Rebecca Louise Law (2015) and Joseph Massie (2016).
