Designing with Flowers

In Dubai’s Alserkal Avenue, a new vision of floristry has taken root, reimagining flowers not as decoration but as immersive spatial experiences. Crosby Studios, led by designer and artist Harry Nuriev, has unveiled a transformative 220-square-meter venue at UrArtU Gallery that blurs the lines between contemporary art, architecture, and storytelling. The gallery, conceived to host exhibitions, installations, pop-ups, workshops, and brand activations, embodies Crosby Studios’ philosophy of Transformism, challenging traditional notions of floral design and positioning flowers as architectural gestures that invite emotional engagement.

“This space reflects our belief that floristry can operate as a cultural and architectural language. By working with Crosby Studios, we wanted to create an environment where emotion, material, and form come together, where flowers are experienced as something very powerful,” says Gurgen Yeritsyan, Founder and Creative Director of UrArtU Gallery. At the core of the space, a monumental orchid structure rises six meters high, fabricated from aluminum and weighing 250 kilograms. “I wanted flowers to feel structural, almost architectural,” Nuriev explains. The sculpture, simultaneously a work of art and a piece of architecture, embodies tension, fragility versus weight and nature versus construction.

Harry Nuriev and Gurgen Yeritsyan

Every corner of the gallery is infused with thoughtful design, Orchid motifs appear subtly on custom door knobs, while the upstairs open space offers a flexible environment for workshops, talks, and events. Materiality shapes the narrative throughout, microcement floors anchor the environment, columns and bars are clad in Italian marbles tiles by Stonetta and aluminum composite panels with stainless steel effects contrast with grey-painted surfaces, creating an industrial-luxury palette that plays with texture, reflection, and light. A striking red-lit walk-in fridge functions as both a technical and visual centerpiece, featuring double-glazed glass with argon gas filling, stainless steel walls, and an integrated lightbox, its glow subtly energising the surrounding space.

Crosby Studios’ approach redefines the relationship between floral artistry and architecture, turning a gallery visit into an emotional and sensory journey. At UrArtU, flowers no longer simply exist in a vase; they become monumental, structural, and unforgettable experiences.