In a cozy downtown Reykjavík apartment, this floral mural offers some colour to a bright open space. Blossoming garðasól (papaver croceum), dandelion leaves (taxacum officinale) and ætihvönn (angelica archangelica) were chosen for their aesthetic charm and medicinal properties to symbolise a beautiful and healthy home environment. A nickname for the inhabitants of downtown Reykjavík is miðbæjarrotta or “downtown rat” so I incorporated a snowy white rat greeting the summer flora.

This experiential and playful Brooklyn based plant store wanted a door to another dimension, bursting with flora and fauna. We incorporated rhaphidophora, leafy palm, variegated monstera, alien coloured dandelion leaves for some wildness, a big moss ball, begonia maculata, and calathea along with its signature snake.

The Hlemmur mural borrows the typography from the hostel’s outdoor sign and seeks inspiration in its colourful logo. The leaves are from ætihvönn (angelica archangelica), which is a powerful medicinal herb that grows all around Iceland. The positive properties of this flower symbolically greet travellers looking for accommodation. The flowers are garðasól (papaver croceum). It is a foreign species called by the beautiful name “garden sun” which quickly spread across the country, like the many visitors of Hlemmur Square. The birds are starri (sturnum vulgaris). While certain birds are greatly admired in Icelandic culture, such as the raven that has numerous rhymes and folk songs singing its praises, the common starling shits on your shoulder as you await your hot dog. It is a little reminder that Icelandic natural elements need to be treated with certain caution and humour. 

A living room mural in a Reykjavík city centre apartment. The client wanted a jungle to stretch across her wall, a bird which was the mascot for her theatre company, and a sloth as it was the nickname for her sweetheart.

A bedroom wall in East Williamsburg. The blossoming flowers symbolise the feminine within her: the strength of growth, flexibility and fertility, and the birds her masculine qualities: decisiveness, freedom of mobility and desire. The pollen rising is playing on the growth and possibility.