In the studio with… Sasha Grigorik
This week we caught up with Sasha Grigorik, the Founder and Creative Director of the multidisciplinary design, installation and botanical studio Mos, to discuss working with natural materials, her favourite outdoor spaces and making floristry more sustainable.
Minsk born Sasha was studying for her Graphic Design MA at Central St Martin’s when she chanced upon a floristry course at the London Flower school. Two days in and she knew that working with flowers was for her. A degree at the London Flower School later and Sasha founded Mos studios in November last year.
Working with what’s in season, Sasha creates immersive installations to incorporate natural materials into urban spaces. She’s created cascading plant waterfalls for Hackney’s Glasshouse and visionary florals for shoot sets and more recently, she’s worked her plant power on an editorial collaboration with us!
How would you describe Mos?
It sits between floristry and landscape design, it’s not just me putting pretty flowers on a table it’s me taking more of an artistic, design approach to floristry. We mainly do immersive, sensory installations and using flowers to express ourselves and bring nature into our homes and into our environments.
Nature is central to your artistic practice - what about it drives your interest?
During lockdown people have noticed the healing power of nature and the importance of having nature closely integrated into our lives, the whole idea of Mos is to really bring that forward. I like to think about it like how the Japanese integrate nature into their lives - flowers can be so much more than looking pretty on a table, they can have a mindful and meaningful effect, in a spiritual way almost.
Other than the natural world where do you look for inspiration?
A lot of it is art and design, I did fashion design before I did graphic design so I love going to museums - I cannot wait to get back to going to galleries, that really is my big source of inspiration, I really love contemporary art so I love going to the Tate Modern. I spend hours in the book shops of galleries perusing through the art books.
Your installations have a limited shelf life, how do you incorporate sustainability into your work?
You have to think about using natural materials that will last the test of time so for a recent project we used amaranthus which is a natural material, but it dries really beautifully, and we use sculptural branches that will last forever. It’s interesting because a lot of clients have been going down the dried flower route, but they are expensive and they go through so many unsustainable methods of preservation that they aren’t actually sustainable at all. I’m working on my own methods of drying flowers using sustainable methods, they aren’t as vibrant as what you’re used to seeing but they are really beautiful. I focus on only using seasonal materials and mainly British sourced flowers.
If it’s possible we might be able to give flowers as favours to guests and then if that’s not possible we compost and thirdly, there is a company called Floral Angels who take flowers from events and they repurpose them and give them to people in care homes and hospitals.
Have you discovered any new favourite nature spots during lockdown?
I’ve explored a new area of Victoria Park, I think it’s called the rose garden and in the winter it was so beautiful with dried grasses and the hellebores were coming, there was so much colour coming out, yellows and reds…I’m really looking forward to going back and seeing how it’s changed over time.
What’s your favourite material to work with?
I love mimosa, it’s always been a favourite of mine, it’s so fun and fluffy and gives so much texture to an arrangement and so much movement. It’s part of the reason I named my studio Mos, mimosa was one of the reasons I got into to floristry and one of the first materials that I used, and the word mos is in mimosa…
Which artists should be on our radar this year?
There’s an exhibition that I’m really excited about by Ryoji Ikeda, he’s a visual artist and he creates immersive installations with lights and audio and you’re completely transported, it’s out of this world. These sorts of immersive environments are really interesting to look at because it gives me ideas for how I can create an immersive experience using only natural elements.
And finally, which is your favourite Lit scent?
The lavender, sweet orange and ylang ylang one - anything with ylang ylang and I’m sold!
