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Jacques Castagne's work, combining fountain grass, gloriosa lilies, sweet peas, allium, switchgrass, and coral bead plants

Garden Design Magazine's latest issue, which is not on their website yet, features a handful of Europe's top cutting-edge floral sculpture artists. It is a teaser, giving us a taste of a handful of artists who use flowers and natural materials to create their forms...

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Detail of Castagne's work, showing the glass vessels, stacked, that look like plastic disposable cups

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Pim Van Den Akker, left, various flowers woven to the shape of a bull's head. Geert Pattyn, right, sculpture made of willow branches.

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Ann Desmet, sculpture with weathered wood, elecampane and branched bur-reed.

As sculpture, I like the idea of plants used in a way that other sculptural materials are considered in order to convey the artist's concept. In Castagne's work above, he wanted to show the idea of jubilation, similar to fireworks or a circus. Pattyn's willow ring was to create one large 'annual ring' with the tiny circles of the individual branches echoing the large ring. Van den Akker's bull was a work to show strength and fragility coexisting. Desmet was inspired by a found wood object to combine it with the shapes of the elecampane and bur-reed.

matt at apartment therapy dot com