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Constance Spry and the fashion for flowers

Black and white image of Constance Spry arranging flowers

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When

17 May - 26 September 2021

Price

£12

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This summer the Garden Museum will be celebrating the doyenne of flowers, the 20th century’s most influential floral decorator, Constance Spry. Guest curated by floral designer and writer Shane Connolly, this new exhibition will explore Spry’s exceptional life, achievements and legacy, with exclusive access to her archive at the RHS Lindley Library.

For this exhibition the Garden Museum has gained exclusive access to Spry’s personal archives, which were deposited at the RHS Lindley Library after her death and have not been displayed publicly since. The exhibition will feature 100 never before seen photographs, documents and personal items from these archives, a precious record of an extraordinary life.

Constance Spry opened her first flower shop, Flower Decoration, in 1929. Her revolutionary approach to floristry garnered widespread interest in high society, while also democratising the form. Unconfined by traditional floristry training, Spry married classic flowers of choice with ‘unusual’ and uncelebrated plant material like kale and pussy willow, unconventional offerings from hedgerows and scoured Covent Garden flower market for statement flowers. Her influence can still be seen in floral design trends to this day.

Throughout her long successful career, Spry also opened a floristry school, a domestic science school, and published thirteen books. And for more than three decades, she provided inspirational flowers for society weddings, fashion shows, the Wedding of Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson and in 1953 stage-managed the design of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Pre-book your tickets now!