At home with Martin Ehmelé
Meet floral designer Martin Ehmelé at home in Austria, where eclectic interiors, art and sculptural BLOOM OBJECTS flowers come together
"WITH BLOOM OBJECTS, I COULD BEND AND MANIPULATE THE FLOWERS MUCH MORE FREELY AND ALMOST TREAT THEM LIKE A SCULPTURAL MATERIAL. THAT COMBINATION OF REALISM AND FLEXIBILITY ALLOWED ME TO CREATE THESE EXAGGERATED, PLAYFUL INSTALLATIONS AND EXPLORE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SIDE OF FLORAL DESIGN"
Who is Martin Ehmelé?
Based in Austria, floral designer Martin Ehmelé approaches flowers as more than decoration. With a sculptural eye for shape, colour and composition, his work explores how botanical forms can transform a space – an approach that extends naturally into his ownhome.
Eclectic, playful and constantly, evolving, Martin’s home brings together design pieces, vintage finds, art and unexpected objects in an ongoing composition. In this portrait, Martin shares his thoughts on inspiration, interiors and what happens when a florist accustomed to working with fresh flowers explores BLOOM OBJECTS as a new sculptural material.
How would you describe your home and your personal interior style?
I would describe my home as eclectic, playful and constantly evolving. I love mixing design pieces with vintage finds, art, bold colours and unexpected objects. I’m not really interested in following one particular interior style, for me, it’s much more about creating a space that feels personal and has a certain tension to it. I like when things are a little unexpected and not too perfect.
What makes a space feel like home to you?
For me, a home needs to feel lived in and tell something about the person who lives there. Art, books, objects collected over time, flowers and things with memories attached to them are what give a space personality. I think a home becomes interesting when it isn’t designed all at once, but grows with you.
Do you approach your own home in the same way?
Definitely. I think I approach interiors almost like I approach a floral installation. I’m very interested in proportions, shapes, colour and composition, and I constantly move things around until they feel right. Sometimes one object, a flower arrangement or even an unusual shape can completely change the balance of a room. I like thinking of my home as an ongoing composition rather than something that is ever really finished.
I would describe my home as eclectic, playful and constantly evolving. I love mixing design pieces with vintage finds, art, bold colours and unexpected objects. I’m not really interested in following one particular interior style, for me, it’s much more about creating a space that feels personal and has a certain tension to it. I like when things are a little unexpected and not too perfect.
Where do you usually find inspiration – both for your work and your personal spaces?
Almost everywhere. Art and fashion are probably my biggest sources of inspiration, but also architecture, nature, films, photography and everyday things I see while travelling or walking through a city. I’m especially drawn to unusual colour combinations, textures and shapes. Often it’s not even a complete image that inspires me, it can be one colour, an object or a strange little detail that becomes the starting point for something completely different.
You usually work with fresh flowers. What interested you in exploring artificial flowers through your collaboration with BLOOM OBJECTS?
What interested me most was the possibility of doing things I normally couldn’t do with fresh flowers.
I love working with real flowers, but naturally they come with certain limitations, stems break, flowers wilt and some shapes simply aren’t possible. With BLOOM OBJECTS, I could bend and manipulate the flowers much more freely and almost treat them like a sculptural material.
What also really surprised me was how incredibly lifelike they are. They don’t have that uniform, overly perfect quality I often associate with artificial flowers, each one has its own character and almost feels like a unique piece. That makes them feel much closer to real flowers and very different from artificial flowers I’ve worked with or seen before.
That combination of realism and flexibility allowed me to create these exaggerated, playful installations and explore a completely different side of floral design.