Mauritshuis - In Full Bloom
For their 200-year anniversary, the Mauritshuis commissioned Tom Postma Design (TPD) to design an exhibition celebrating 17th century still life flower paintings. This exhibition aims to not only display a collection of still life flower paintings, but to tell a story of how these paintings show the connection between art, nature and science.

Innovation
This relationship inspired TPD to develop a custom material that also connects historical and contemporary innovation in Dutch horticulture and trade. The free-standing walls in this exhibition were covered in a bespoke bio-laminate: a durable, high-quality material that incorporates waste products from the flower bulb industry. Tulip bulbs cultivated for sale have the flowers cut off, which become biowaste. To make this bio-laminate, the tulip waste was collected, dried, combined with bio-resins and natural pigments, and pressed into boards.

Creativity
The creativity in this project is implicit in the innovative use and creation of new, conceptually integrated materials. As mentioned above, the waste material from the Dutch flower industry has been transformed into an aesthetic and unique product that also functions as an abstract representation. This material draws a conceptual line between the 17th century Dutch flower market and its evolution into the Netherlands currently being the number one flower exporter in the world. Through the use of this rich organic material, and a muted colour palette, a calming environment was created, in which visitors can admire the art on the display.

Functionality
The main functionality of this space is to support the curatorial vision of the Mauritshuis whilst creating an environment in which visitors can be guided through the exhibition. Strategically placed temporary walls simultaneously divided the space and provided extra hanging room. Showcases were integrated into these walls, providing extra structural integrity and acting as barriers for the artworks above. Visual interest was created through the use of the rich bio-laminate cladding, and a sheer screen at the entry, introducing an interesting play of transparency into the space. 

Sustainability
The TPD team challenged themselves to take sustainability in this project as far as possible. Further to the development of the special bio laminate, the hoods of the vitrines were created from circular plastic; the couch was re-upholstered with wool; museum walls were painted in water-based paint; and distance holders and hanging systems were reused existing elements. The wall substructure was existing and repurposed for this exhibition and will continued to be re-used by the museum for future shows. Lastly, at the end of the exhibition, the bio laminate panels will be turned into limited edition furniture pieces for sale in the Mauritshuis giftshop – making this an almost entirely biobased and circular exhibition, going against the single-use throwaway culture of temporary exhibition architecture.