Joanna Jernajczyk - Nudiflorum Botanical Design Studio

 

 

Nudiflorum is a botanical art studio based in Wrocław, Poland, founded by designer and maker Joanna Jernajczyk.
Beneath the purely decorative value lies a deeper reflection on the paradox of our world - at once permanent and fragile, unchanging and transient. Objects situated between design and craft, between the contemplative tradition of Japanese oshibana and material thinking about contemporary interiors. Rooted in nature.

 

 

MANIFEST

You can think before. You can think after. But not during.

This is oshibana - a technique practised by samurai to develop patience and total concentration. It is a process. A prepared plant placed on a surface, a decision made, a movement that cannot be undone. No layers, no corrections, no undo. Only form, rhythm, and the power of the moment.

I entered the world of dried plants by accident. I was chosen from a team to create works for an exhibition titled  „The History of the "Pan Tadeusz" Manuscript - Texts, Contexts, Realities” at the Ossolineum in Wrocław. I have created over fifty compositions referring to Eliza Orzeszkowa’s herbarium. Without experience, without much knowledge, in someone else's aesthetic. It wasn't my work - but that is where I discovered a material for further exploration. Full of detail and unpredictable. Real. Dried plants are three-dimensional material with properties that no digital process can anticipate or replicate - neither their structural complexity, nor the way they interact with light, nor the colour that changes over time. This is not only a story about nature, but an attempt to capture its movement. Sometimes reduced to simple, raw forms, sometimes treated in a more illustrative manner.

Botanical Slab was created to address the issue of scale. The language I work in is precise and minimalist, but the size of the selected plants sets certain limits. Contemporary interiors need large-scale objects. So I sought a way to translate the same formal concept into a different dimension. I developed a new technique: dried botanical elements permanently embedded in a textured mass. Not resin, but a natural medium, a new texture. An object, not a picture. A unique piece, not a reproduction. The form scales up, the concept remains the same.
Mövenpick Resort & Spa Karpacz was the first opportunity to implement this on a full scale - - 126 rooms. The hotel won the LIV Hospitality Design Award 2025. Interior design: MIXD studio.

Botanical slab is not a superior form. It is one of many options - innovative in its own way, demonstrating the breadth of design thinking and offering the flexibility to respond to what contemporary interiors actually need. Minimalist compositions are the pure form of expression. The slab is the translation of this logic into architecture. When I create prints, they serve a purpose. Every technique has its advantages and limitations. I choose them according to the circumstances.

Regardless of technique, my main focus is on the natural origin of the material and understanding its qualities. I do not seek to recreate living plants. On the contrary, plant material prepared through the selection and drying process is a new material with entirely different properties, and the plants' apparent imperfections are their strength and asset. This isn't preservation. It's transformation.

The works created in Nudiflorum studio are living objects that undergo change. The emerging patina, the change in color, or tone is a valuable part of the work, not a defect. It is discreet evidence of the transience of existence. Observing and accepting these changes helps us become accustomed to what is inevitable and expected. It is a need to find beauty inherent in that process. And nothing represents it better than nature.

Joanna Jernajczyk
Nudiflorum