The flower artist Azuma Makoto teamed up with Shunsuke Shiinoki in 2002 to open JARDINS des FLEURS, a “haute couture” flower shop offering bouquets designed on-demand, using flowers purchased for the respective order, in Tokyo.
In addition to the flower shop business, around 2005 he began to explore the expressive potential of flowers. He invented the genre of the “botanical sculpture”, creating works for which he soon received orders also from outside Japan.
Following a solo exhibition in New York, his experimental works have been repeatedly shown at places including Paris and Dusseldorf. While launching the experimental botanical lab Azuma Makoto Kaju Kenkyusho (AMKK) in 2009, he went on to exhibit his works at art museums, galleries and public spaces in Milan, Belgium, Shanghai and Mexico among others.
In recent years, Azuma has been focusing on his project arranging flowers in all kinds of mundane situations that don’t occur in the realm of nature, and continues to pursue the beauty of plants from a unique point of view.
Images courtesy of Azuma Makoto & Shiinoki Shunsuke
Discover: azumamakoto.com
