The Faux Flower Revolution

I’ve always been a HUGE follower and advocate of Abigail Ahern’s quirky and thoroughly contemporary take on Interior Design.  She is famous for her stance on challenging many traditional Interior Design principles and has illustrated to great effect (via her own designs) that most Interior Design ‘rules’, can indeed be broken.  

Image credit: Abigail Ahern

But it has been her unwavering excitement of and loyalty to the benefits of faux flowers that has caught my attention in recent months.  I’ve never seen these beauties in the flesh but from the photos on her website, they look damn good.

Abigail made a recent announcement that she has launched her own label faux botanicals, which will go live on her website from 23 September 2015. Considering I’ve been signed up to her daily blog for like, EVER, I read this news ‘hot off the press’ when her blog post arrived in my inbox.

‘Faux flowers are nothing new’, I hear you cry.  And you’re right, those little plastic impostors have been around for donkeys but the quality that Abigail stocks are a whole different kettle of fish.

There’s no gawdy hues, flimsy fabric or crude imitations in her bunches (come on, we’ve all seen them in Dunelm Mill).  They appear to be unbelievably realistic with buckets of charm and dollops of rustic goodness.  Even the brown paper and string in the above press shot looks AMAZING!  I don’t know about you but I can’t remember the last time I clapped eyes on brown paper and immediately lusted after it.

See?  She’s a clever lady, is that Abigail.

The snobby notion that faux flowers don’t belong in an awesome, cohesively designed interior, are completely shot down in flames when you see the detail and quality of these little suckers.  I only hope they are as impressive in reality.  

Image credit: Abigail Ahern

I’m not for one minute suggesting that an entire home should have bunches of faux flowers plonked in every other corner because that would be a little weird and extremely one dimensional.  The scent alone from fresh flowers provides an amazing aroma, that I would imagine faux flowers just can’t compete with (has anyone purchased faux flowers from Abigail’s shop previously?  How DO they smell??!).

But in these austere times and with the irritating, short lifespan of real blooms, there’s no denying that faux flowers have their advantages.  Especially for commercial spaces, where continually replenishing fresh flowers would undoubtedly become a tad expensive.

Plus, if you’re like me and usually forget to change the water of fresh flowers or inadvertently (and repeatedly) kill potted plants, then this range is for you!

I’m eager to hear your thoughts: are you pro faux or do you favour fresh?  Let me know!