Strange Love

The six names in this story create wildly different works that tend to blur the boundaries among disparate disciplines. All have little in common except one thing: a certain wondrousness and sense of curiosity that inspire audiences to look at familiar things anew. Keng Yang Shuen reports.

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FAWN WORLD

The object on this page isn’t a sculpture, but multiple clusters of the bulbous blossfeldia liliputana cactus artfully arranged to create a botanical centrepiece. Meet the latest weaver of floral delirium in town: Fawn World, started this May by brothers Dennis and Tommy Ng, and Isabell Annalin Hansen (all are in their mid‑ to late 20s). Its MO is to celebrate materials from the natural world traditionally regarded as unusable in the industry – think thorny plants and dark‑coloured or bruised blooms. “Beyond rendering a design service, my desire is to make things a little cheeky and provocative … We aim to take people out of their comfort zones,” says the older of the guys, Dennis. This perhaps isn’t surprising, considering how he and Hansen previously worked as a designer and photographer respectively at This Humid House – the botanical design studio that has arguably reshaped the floristry landscape here with its unconventional displays and focus on regional flora. And living up to its name, Fawn World is going beyond plants to spread its vision. Already, it has teamed up with sculptor Hans Chew (who’s also featured in this story) to create custom vessels, as well as artist Sean Tay to curate a series of vintage books and prints about floristry – all for sale on fawn-world.com. Joining this zany botanical universe early next year? Fawn World clothing and merch.

MASUTANI MAY