Allow me to set a scene for you: You are on a tight deadline and you are driving like a mad-woman picking up props from shops all over the city (one word: stress). You need to source things like moss, twigs, and branches and you are 3 hours away from the closest forest. Strange props? I’ve had stranger. You find yourself in the residential back streets of one of the plushest suburbs of Sydney as you are told there is a rather unique floral studio somewhere close by. You spot the name on a humble corner dwelling and screeching to a halt you park, lock and run in within your 5 second time frame. You open the door and as you close it behind you, your whole world changes. Yes, think Narnia: magic lingers in this very room.
Ducking and weaving in between exquisite spotted moss branches dangling from the ceiling like natural forest-found chandeliers, you don’t know where to look – up, down, around, behind… it is as though a forest grew right up out of the studio floor, you half expect to hear a fluttering fantail pop out and sing you a song. Each piece of flora in this studio has been handpicked by one incredible artist – Tracey Deep…
Images from Warick Orme Photography
Tracey is an aptly famed floral sculptor from Sydney, Australia. Her company, Floral Sculptures is based in Woollhara and her clients range from crazy people like me, to stars like Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. She makes magnificent sculptures from seemingly ordinary pieces of twigs, branches, trunks, grass, moss… if you come across a tossed bit of dead bark chances are Tracey has made something you never dreamed from such a piece. When I first spotted her work it was at a joint exhibition with photographer Anson Smart, and just recently she launched another exhibition with Warick Orme . The exhibtion, entitled TRIBE was opened by the very talented Kylie Kwong.
In this exhibition, Tracey transforms industrial raw materials into harmonious works and in affect, transcends all boundaries. Her interwoven pieces reflect nature’s own beauty, turning harsh weathered objects into flowing translucent forms. As the press release perfectly describes, the pieces weave and flow like the patterns in nature -always changing.
Inspired by the fragile innocence of a seed, Tracey appreciates its raw beauty, using this fresh form to create a rare vision.
“My works reflect a poetic play of light and shade, luscious textures and sensual forms, inspired by the essence of nature.” – Tracey Deep
It is Tracey who inspired and in essence taught me to look at nature with a more imaginative eye, to be bolder with my floral choices when I style, and now this has become one of my trademarks – it is not unusual for my clients to see me drag an unusual branch from out of their very own backyard and place it inside their home. My boldest moment was when I carefully wrapped a 2 metre piece of exquisite lichen and moss covered fallen branch from my friend’s farm property in Eastern France and dragged it on the 4 hour train journey back to Paris for a home I was in the midst of styling. In the back of my mind I did wonder if Tracey might be just a little proud of me.
For more information on Tracey’s work or to place an order email her at floralsculptures@bigpond.com
P.S. in the voice of those commercials ‘don’t try this at home’, all branches I collect are strictly on my own or friend’s private properties which I have had permission to collect from, it is not advised to go rummaging through any national parks or wildlife sanctuaries as it disrupts the natural flooring, not to mention it is illegal. But by all means have a look on the grounds of your own backyard, you’ll be pleasantly surprised what beauty lurks there!
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Tracey’s studio can now be found at Studio GO1/59 Great Buckingham St, Redfern.2016
