David Thulstrup has turned flower selling into an art form, creating a theatrical and dramatic retail space for TABLEAU in an atmospheric gallery-style space in a 19th century building in the heart of Copenhagen. TABLEAU is the brainchild of Julius Værnes Iversen who runs Copenhagen’s popular BB Blomster flower stores with his brother Magnus.
Iversen gave Thulstrup a freehand to design the gallery-like interior and everything in it including architectural podiums in single materials such as terrazzo, glass bricks, and polished metal profiles for staging floral arrangements like art installations. The podiums sit on a bright blue vinyl floor, which is a foil for their architectural shapes and the rawness of the walls. The floor is reflected in specially designed LED luminaires in a mirrored metal finish that appear to float on the ceiling. Custom-designed counters are made with galvanised metal. A growth rack for potted plants that doubles as a light sculpture was Thulstrup’s creative solution to Iversen’s practical desire to use the rear of the space to display potted plants. During the day the light irradiates as a cool white while overnight it becomes an edgy pink-purple light, which enables the plants to grow but also adds a sort of disco feel when the store is closed.
In keeping with TABLEAU’S theatrical theme walls and ceilings were stripped back to expose raw concrete but retain old wallpapers and textures as a way of celebrating the layered history of the space.
