One of our core missions at Barrett Bergmann Home is to design products and introduce categories that alleviate the sourcing pain points our designer peers face in their projects. Some of our signature offerings were conceived out of necessity, with our real-touch florals as a prime example. For years, Dwayne and Kyle found themselves searching for realistic faux floral arrangements that could deliver the finishing touch worthy of the luxury, bespoke spaces they created, only to be disappointed by the selection available on the market.
The appeal of incorporating realistic faux florals is obvious: they offer a cost-efficient way to introduce color, softness, a sense of organic life and movement into a space without the maintenance and continuous cost of fresh flowers. However, the overly manufactured, stiff and generic versions fall far short of that goal. Both designers knew there had to be better options made specifically for designers and capable of meeting their discerning standards.
Material Matters
To make a convincing faux floral arrangement, Kyle approached the category with the same precision and expertise he brings to fresh flowers in his work as a professional floral designer. With an understanding that composition goes well beyond selecting beautiful stems, he considered scale, proportion, negative space, and movement to develop BBH’s real-touch florals. Working with experts in their craft, the floral design team developed proprietary grass and other elements not available on the market. Their blooms are treated with a latex finish, giving them the look and feel of fresh flowers. Each component is carefully considered for its lifelike appeal before it ever makes its way into an arrangement.
Faux Naturale
Far from the decorative filler often found on the market, BBH treats each of its dozens of faux floral arrangements as a sculptural composition. Drawing on the principles of Ikebana – the Japanese art of floral arrangement – the lines, balance, asymmetry, and negative space are as important as the blooms themselves. The graceful extension of a stem or the natural cascade of a trailing cluster determines where the eye travels and the energy it conveys.
In nature, flowers do not grow in perfect symmetry. Branches bend, leaves and petals fall effortlessly in different directions, and colors vary from bloom to bloom. Embracing these irregularities makes the difference between a convincing arrangement and one that feels overly manufactured. BBH real-touch floral designers craft each element with intention, mimicking the subtle variance found in fresh botanicals.
More Than Flowers
Alongside faux flowers, sculptural foliage, branches, seed pods, succulents, grasses and other botanical elements can bring a natural finishing touch to a space. Too often, these pieces share the rubbery, stiff and unnatural appearance that left Kyle and Dwayne wanting more. Whether complementing the florals or standing on their own in minimalist displays, these botanical elements bring a sense of grounding to a space.
The vessel is another carefully considered element of a BBH floral arrangement. Across BBH’s dozens of designs, the vessels range from natural driftwood basins and sculptural glass to artisan-crafted ceramics and metallic boats. Each carries its own distinct personality, reinforcing the character of the arrangement itself. The relationship between the container, botanicals and the space in which the arrangement might live is considered from the beginning, never treated as an afterthought.
Size Matters
Barrett Bergmann Home categorizes its faux florals not by flower type, but by scale. Small arrangements are intended for vanities, bedside tables, and shelf styling, while a variety of medium and large compositions are intended to create a focal point, statement, or accent. With BBH’s vast and varied offering, designers can now use the same attention to proportion, scale, silhouette, pattern, palette and personality that they employ when sourcing other design elements in their highly considered projects.
Everlasting Elegance
For Dwayne and Kyle, their real-touch florals don’t necessarily replace fresh flowers, which will always have their own beauty, but they do give designers another way to complete a room with something everlasting. Preserving the exact vision a designer intends, from installation day to the every day, is where the real value of faux florals lies.
