When we think about flowers we tend to think of something fresh and vibrant, but at the same time fragile and vanishing. To Thilde flowers last forever, keeping an eye on the environment at the same time.
Poppykalas is a Floral Design Studio based in Copenhagen founded by Thilde Maria Kristensen. Flowers are her way of telling a story, setting a scene, creating emotion, speaking a language beyond spoken or written words with form, colour, smell, and touch. Most of them are imported from Italy and hand-painted, some others are worked freshly in her laboratory.
What is the reason for you to become an artist?
I’m a hyper sensitive person and sitting in office work, even though it was within theatre and dance, was killing me. I felt an urge to express myself visually, but I did not have a plan. It just happened. I found out I have an ability to transform my sensitive sensations to others. If I feel something strongly, I now know for sure others will also feel it through my work. And it brings me joy to work with my hands.
Could you please explain what kind of different materials you use for your works?
It seems to change all the time, here are some of them. First I worked with fresh and dried flowers and I still do set design, floral installations and floral styling. That was where it all started. Then I combined the experience of my floral installations with dried flowers with pastel coloured sand, stones, scent compositions and lately with video projections, textiles and the sound of singing voices, violin and running water. I have also worked with faux flowers creating hair pieces and creating floral composition for the windows of Louis Vuitton. I have designed the sustainable, awarded Secret Garden Rug Collection inspired by the calming effect of a garden and floral wallpaper with The Pompadour Wallpaper Collection. During Corona I started to paint with layered oil painting inspired by my Grandmother’s 3D technique, she taught me as a little girl. My Grandmother lived at a farm in the Northern part of Denmark and she taught me everything I know about flowers. She was painting flowers and arranging flowers around the house also directly on the floor – Pippi Longstocking style. I love painting flowers and other objects, it really brings me calm and freedom, it’s so simple. I have also done assemblages with dried flowers, coloured sand and different objects and framed pressed flowers. Shortly I work creatively within the floral universe.
We named our current issue “the bubble issue”, in order to explain how good art is both a postponement and an elevation of the real world for a brief point in time that whispers we’re going to be fine. What does the word “bubble” mean to you? How would you represent it through your works?
With the Floral Bath exhibition in august/september 2020 I was creating a sensuous bubble. It invites you to enter a new, soft world.
Take someone you love in your hand and step into a slow world and forget everything about the coronavirus for a while. It is a hyper-sensory exhibition that reminds us of what makes life worth living, even when it feels like it has stopped. You may enter the Floral Bath 3 persons at a time for each booking, which lasts 30 minutes. We welcome you. Floral installations, oil paintings and scent composition by Poppykalas. Sound installation by the performance art duo Philip I Schneider and violinist Kirstine Schneider. Video projection by video artist Teresa Freitas. Everything I create has an ambition to calm your nervous system, because we need it more than ever in this digital age.
What projects or exhibitions have you planned for 2022?
I’m currently working on a bigger floral installation with dried flowers for the historical building of The Museum of Copenhagen.
Visual Floral Campaign for Danner touring in Denmark. Danner is a progressive and recognised women’s rights organization. Danner works towards ending violence against women and children.
I have some bigger secret projects, I can’t reveal right now. I’m also planning to do another exhibition with my oil paintings in a sensuous space, but I don’t know where and when yet. I have a long waiting list for my oil paintings, so I will spend many hours in my studio and at our cottage in the countryside – painting. I’m planning to make my 600 m2 organic Flower Field at Møn at our Cottage twice the size creating biodiversity and maybe transform it into an art project, I have some different ideas.
Premiere of floral set design for the movie ‘Venuseffection’ by Anna Emma Haudal in december 2021. The best thing about Poppykalas Floral Design Studio is that it’s unpredictable, you never know where it takes you and what will happen.
I love your collection “Flower for Your Lungs”, especially for the message behind it – moreover, all prints are sustainably produced! What are your thoughts about sustainability? Do you feel optimistic about our Planet’s future? Will mankind be able to reach carbon-footprint neutrality within 2030, in your opinion?
I’m with Greta, so not that optimistic;-) I think everyone has to take a stand creating sustainable products, whenever putting something new into the world. All my prints, rugs and wallpaper are sustainable produced and I drive a Tesla. I love creating biodiversity at my The Flower Field at Møn, it makes me happy to see all the bees and butterflies. But I feel like a sustainable change is coming.
