Antonia is a floral artist and the in-house florist at Petersham Nurseries. Her work is rooted in four words: authenticity, wild, British, connection.

Her installation began with a gift - a wild honeycomb from the Petersham beekeeper. A rare piece of the natural world. She didn’t know she’d be part of Flowers on the Edge yet, but when she saw the open call for our Fourth Plinth designer, she knew that would be the centre of her concept. The rest of the piece grew around it.

“It was about creating something beautiful and balanced. A little micro-world symbolising this stunning world around us.”

During the exhibition, a couple of local school groups came through. It was fascinating to watch the children stop in front of Antonia’s piece and see how they were drawn into the micro-world: The swirl of flowers around the geometric honeycomb. The pooling honey, melting in the heat. They dipped their fingers in it. Pointed out the flowers they recognised. Picked favourites.

This is what season-led floral design makes possible: connection. To nature. To materials. To memory and place, in real time.