The Block Flowers are a late edition to the Broached East collection, and like so much of Azuma Makoto’s work, straddle decoration and critique of the cut flower industry. They are at once beautiful and still born.

The nine Block Flowers by Azuma Makoto are a continuation of the narrative conveyed by the Paludarium for Broached East in 2014. These works express a relationship to nature experienced by science, chemicals and rational thought rather than holistic understanding of ecosystems.

The Enlightenment believed that science could unwrap all the mysteries of the universe and turn almost all environments into human habitats with the right engineering. The world needed to be scrutinised, dissected, analysed, in order to be framed for its useful properties.

The flower blocks were commissioned specifically for Design Storytellers: The work of Broached Commissions in 2018 and are an addition to the Broached East Collection.