The Ashmolean Museum's first exhibition to consider sustainability from conception to delivery.
Client
In Bloom Exhibition
Programme
Exhibition Design
Project Lead
Harriet Meyer-Knight
Year
2025-2026
Introduction
We created the exhibition design for In Bloom: How Plants Changed the World at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The exhibition takes visitors on a journey from Oxford to the farthest corners of the world and back, uncovering the global stories behind some of Britain's most familiar blooms — from roses and tulips to camellias and peonies. Featuring over 100 artworks and objects, it explores our changing relationship with the natural world: how the pursuit of exotic plants transformed landscapes, economies, and cultures, leaving a legacy that still shapes our world today.
Regenerative Design and Sustainability
92% of the works came from the South-East of England, 60% from the Ashmolean or other University collections, lowering the carbon footprint of object transport. Working with the museum, we reused 87% of showcases and reclaimed 82% of partitioning from the previous exhibition.
New architectural elements use the lightest possible construction — fabric and lighting effects rather than heavy build. New fabric partitions use 30m² of fabric and 350kg of timber framing, against roughly 650kg had they been built as plasterboard. We achieved environmental effects by painting with light rather than large-scale vinyl, using gobo projections and a maximum of 150m² of hanging fabric weighing around 8kg.
We chose non-toxic materials sourced within the UK wherever possible — recycled vinyl, paper-based text panels, eco-friendly paint. We also created a 3D digital catalogue of all Ashmolean cases and plinths, so future designs can prioritise reuse.
Inclusion, Accessibility, and Designing for the Senses
We combined the emotive power of history with the sensory experience of plants and flowers. The visitor moves from the dim, mysterious atmosphere of the pre-scientific era, to a bright, blooming garden of plants and empire, to a white cube where contemporary artists explore our continuing relationship with plants.
For visitors with sight difficulties, the design incorporates multisensory elements — soundscapes and smellscapes. Tasha Marks of AVM Curiosities designed four bespoke scents, including two teas, Damascus rose, and opium. We designed scent stations with 3D-printed vessels in organic forms evocative of their source material.
Design for Timelessness
While the approach driving the exhibition architecture prioritised lightness, reuse, and circularity, the Opium Vase is a permanent trace that lasts over time. The contrast between permanence and impermanence is a continuing field of investigation in our practice, and the Opium Vase captures the essence of that dynamic.
Of the scent vessels we designed for In Bloom, we chose to commemorate the opium pod as a lasting physical artefact. Opium was not only a vehicle to dreamlike pleasure but a geopolitical tool — a source of great wealth and a root cause of war. Paradoxically, the same substance that caused so much violence was also the battlefield salve for unbearable pain. Its flowering form, the poppy, has over the last century become a symbol of military sacrifice and remembrance.
The complexity of meaning carried by this form reflects the exhibition itself, which sheds light on the lesser-known stories behind the familiar beauty of our gardens. Produced in gold-hued bronze to coincide with the opening, its unvarnished surface will slowly patinate to green. When and whether to polish back the green to reveal the gold again will be for the keepers of the pod to decide as they look after it over the years.
3d Design
DaeWha Kang Design
Curators
Francesca Leoni, Shailendra Bhandare
Client Project Manager
Catriona Pearson
DaeWha Kang Design Project Lead
Harriet Meyer-Knight
Design Team
DaeWha Kang, Michal Wojtkiewicz, Harriet Meyer-Knight, Wandy Mulia
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