San Francisco, California

A Floating Forest

When a client reached out to Airplantman and requested a custom reclaimed wood AirplantFrame we were excited to find the perfect proportions and wood finish to create a living artwork.  The stunning, densely planted final piece was a true masterwork of Tillandsia planting and a lot of fun to make!  Hundreds of Tillandsia or airplants were used to create this floating forest.  Our reclaimed wood design features an outer wood frame and an inner removable steel frame.  The heavy wood frame remains mounted to the wall while the lighter steel frame can be removed for watering.  This makes care easier and allows the wood to be preserved from the regular air plant watering.  The lack of any soil requirements for Tillandsia makes them lightweight, clean, and largely insect and allergen free.  Perfect for a living wall piece in the home or garden.  This display is shown in Josh's old studio location, believe it or not the piece was shipped fully planted.  Tillandsia ship remarkably well and it arrived in perfect health.  We are always nervous though and eagerly coordinated with the client to ensure these arrived safe and sound.  A series of our ceramic vessels compliment a display we could stare at for hours and were a little bit sad to part with.  A happy client is always the final reward though, and it's on to the next project!

See you later, headed to Plant World

Josh jokingly coined the phrase 'plant world' to describe the feeling when looking closely at dense mass plantings such as this one.  From an angle the sense of scale disappears and the delicate variety of Tillandsia leaves appear like a jungle of epic proportions filled with exotic and imaginary plants and foliage.  The etherial quality of air plants creates the sense of visiting another plant, but one much like our own.  Countless hours spent pruning, arranging, and securing the plants in our custom hand strung wire mesh design can be its own reward.  The feeling of leaving the built environment and heading to 'plant world' is a welcome break from the norm.

Planting Palette 

This project contained a wide plant palette drawn from the Tillandsia genus of the Bromeliaceae family.  These incredible epiphytes grow without soil, absorbing all their water and nutrients through their leaves.  This makes for lightweight and clean plant displays, perfect for the home or garden.  Bright light and regular water are required though, see our care page for more information on keeping you air plants healthy and happy.  For this project we went a bit wild with the planting and the species include brachycaulos, ionantha, stricta varieties, a brachycaulos x xerographica hybrid, gemniflora, micans hybrid, tricolor melan, juncea red green and others.  Once we get started it's hard to stop!