Homegrown design studio This Humid House (THH) has a rather unique niche: rather than focusing on permanent structures and installations, THH instead specialises in crafting living sculptures from flowers and plants. What this results in is fresh, temporal works that elevate simple floristry and flower arrangement to the next level, to the extent they become akin to art.

Recognising this distinctive quality, THH has now been invited to expand beyond Singapore, and set up shop at luxury streetwear label Palm Angels’ flagship store in Paris. As florist-in-residence, the botanical design studio will not only be retailing cut flowers, foliage, plants, vessels, books and gardening tools, but is also using the opportunity to experiment with the formats in which living materials are given and received, as well as to connect with like-minded friends and future collaborators. Speaking to THH co-Creative Directors John Lim and Françoise Ozawa, we found out more about the philosophy behind THH, and what it means to them to be given such a rare opportunity to develop and grow their business and artistry.

“I started THH when I was tasked to find florals for my brother’s wedding, when he was getting married to my sister-in-law, who is from Florida,” says John. “They didn’t know too much about flowers, but they did like eating food. So instead of typical roses and hydrangeas, a couple of friends and I gathered up vegetables like daikon and onions, and the final arrangement spoke to them in a much more meaningful way. That’s the most important part of ‘luxury’ – it’s not how much it costs, but to be able to create a vision that feels tailor-made for you and only you, to make you feel represented and tell your story.”

Trained in architecture, John founded THH in 2017, and oversees design for landscape and floral projects. His experience in design studios has shaped the culture at THH, where designers are encouraged to apply design thinking to their work with plants and flowers. “My parents were very surprised that I wanted to take this seriously, because they weren’t sure if I could make a profession out of it,” says John. “What really drew me to this was perhaps this challenge that there’s a limited amount of time to construct the sculpture from the moment the stem is cut, as well as how there’s something about how it ends up becoming a work admired purely for its beauty.”

What John and THH do then, is unique, as they carve a niche for themselves as designers utilising flowers and plants as the key to creating solutions. “There was a gap in the market, in that while floristry is a time-tested profession, there is the possibility of taking that further and using it to tell a story using the medium of plants and flowers, which allows us to evolve the profession into one of design, and respect and recognise florists for their intelligence and expertise as well,” adds John.

“Some people still do get confused by what we do, and many of them don’t entirely know what they want. But that’s ok, because we show them what we can do – take for example a bride wants a wedding bouquet, something that appears in essentially every photo. It’s an opportunity to represent themselves, and even if they don’t know what flower they like specifically, they might say ‘oh I like the smell of jasmine tea,” explains John. “That’s when we riff off that, and start to figure out everything from colours, to the timespan we’re looking at to know when we cut it from the stem, and arranging transport and logistics to get this one bouquet to the bride. There’s a lot more work that goes into a bouquet than people think, but it all adds up and it does matter to people who look at and see the significance of each work, because they identify with it and relate to it in a much more intimate way.” 

At THH, John counts co-Creative Director Françoise Ozawa as a key member of his team. Holding degrees in business and biochemistry, the French-Japanese Françoise has been with THH since its inception in 2017, and as of 2021, returned to her native Paris to head the studio’s overseas operations. “Each summer when I come home to Paris, I would always be walking down the streets and do a quick survey of how many and what kind of flowers I can spot,” says Françoise. “It’s something always on my mind as I wondered about how and where we fit our work into Paris, and how rather than being a very ‘Singaporean’ brand and including tropical plants in our work, our role is as a service provider, to use local ingredients to France, but tweak them to look different and as John puts it, tell a story.”

“Essentially, we were matching client’s desires to our budgets, while also exploring what we can do to creatively stretch ourselves within those briefs and constraints,” adds John. “That’s what happens when we do work that isn’t an art commission – our goal is to ensure the client is happy, and find a kind of balance that achieves this sense of luxury, and negotiate that with our client.”

A florist typically would simply arrange flowers into a bouquet for customers to take home. But under THH, the team hopes to elevate the experience itself, whether it’s choosing between assemblages of discerningly selected floral and plant materials to be composed at home, bouquets comprising unexpected combinations, or a medley of plants chosen for their resilience and unique characteristics. “We want to give meaning to what we do, to help people connect to these flowers and enjoy the process of arranging them,” says Françoise.

Which is precisely why the collaboration with Palm Angels makes sense for THH. “When Palm Angels approached us for this residency, it struck us as the perfect opportunity for THH to interact with a new audience. Besides growing our presence outside Asia into Europe, we wanted to reach a new demographic,” says Françoise. “The Palm Angels customer embodies a youthful, bold and forward-looking spirit, and we hope the store will allow THH’s love for nature to resonate with them.”

“It’s a great opportunity and platform to introduce our ideas to France, and bring in all these things they may not usually see,” she adds. “Paris always wants flowers in hotel receptions and luxury stores, but then, how do you find a solution that lasts longer? That’s why we’re working together with Clément Bouteille, our resident flower farmer in France, who was one of the first people we reached out to. It’s been such a journey where we’ve been testing the waters and seeing what we can do, from buying seeds to observing how people react, but I think people are finally understanding what we do and how we bring something new to the scene, to find unusual arrangements and materials that tell a story and a new kind of beauty to the arrangements, whether it’s a flower or a full length leek.”

To achieve excellence, John and Françoise hold themselves to high standards, pushing each other and their team to achieve the bet possible result, “Over here, while we’re honest, the aim isn’t to tear each other down, but to take time to really analyse each other’s work, and develop the right language for describing and expressing what we want to,” says John. “The goal has always been to use colour and shape to effectively achieve our intent, and we don’t take each other’s critiques personally, but objectively.”

“Six years ago, I would never have imagined myself being here. For me, John recognised that there was so much to do in this field, and it takes time to build up a proper team,” says Françoise. “Communication is important, particularly when it comes to articulating our thoughts, and I think we’ve developed such a strong vocabulary that it could even become an educational course. It’s an ongoing process, and even today, we’re still learning.”

Sustainability also plays a key role in THH’s ethos, as they continually seek out new materials and eco-friendly ways to produce their work, something John coins as ‘mindful floristry’. “We want to give meaning what to do, where it’s not just a case of arrangement, but also how best to use our ingredients and materials,” says Françoise. “When we began, we used this very common sponge that was quite useful and easy to handle, but when we found out it was toxic, we decided to move away from that, and eventually it made us realise that we could indeed work in a more sustainable way. When you want to go sustainable, it also pushes you to consider and respect the space and how to optimise your materials. Maybe you only need 2000 blooms instead of 3000 for example, to reduce waste.”

“We do hope our working method inspires change, and within the industry, there is very much a sea change happening where companies are moving towards a more conscious, eco-friendly way of production. It does require a full effort from everyone though, including consumers and clients, to also demand change for everyone to respond,” adds John.

For now though, THH is hoping to use this opportunity in France to establish their name in Europe, and get to know the people around them as they integrate into the local scene. “We mostly just want to put down roots and establish the kind of work we do here. So much of the work we’re doing beyond Palm Angels is also just trying to understand how things work here, whether it’s supply chains or who the big players are, and connecting with people,” says Françoise. “You eventually get to know everyone from the florists to the freelancers, and it feels good to be able to talk to everyone at the same level because they treat us as fellow ‘competitors’ in the market, but worthy of talking to.”

“It’s a really big opportunity to reach people, and with a streetwear brand like Palm Angels, it’s interesting to connect to them via plants, many of whom are likely to be younger people who may not usually have such interactions with flowers and botany,” says John. “We are in the business of wanting people to buy things, but given this platform, it’s also one that gives us the grace not necessarily to always have to sell, but also connect and educate others.”

“We want to train our designers to do something different from what they learn at floristry school. We want them to redefine the use of flowers and plants, and develop from the whole history of doing things, and learn to align their practice with the environment and celebrate culture,” concludes John. “Paris is now a very international city of many cultures and migrants, and the language of plants and flowers is becoming more important than ever, to look into our histories and cultures, to talk about it more, and have that represented through design. That’s what we hope to bring to the fore with our presence there.”

Photos courtesy of This Humid House

This Humid House is florist-in-residence at Palm Angels’ flagship store in Paris, 217 Rue St. Honoré. More information available here Find out more about This Humid House on their website here