2019

MARTIN BERGSTRÖM 

There is something both scientific and romantic in the fascination with herbarium. On the one hand, the urge to collect, classify, and archive samples with scientific rigour, on the other, a desire to freeze in time something that is a part of the perpetual cyclic motion of nature: the life of a plant. Herbaria, especially those from the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, are particularly interesting and important for Martin Bergström. That’s where most of his inspiration comes: from a myriad of carefully folded and pressed flowers, enthralling with their allure of fragility, as well as their longevity. 
Trained as a fashion designer, Martin Bergström is creatively polyhedric and versatile, creating garments, costumes, textile prints, wallpapers, interior design objects, and projects. 
For all these different, yet correlated, works, there is one common point: print. 
Designing prints is central to Martin Bergström’s practice, and his hand-painted designs always have the same point of departure: plants and flowers selected from his large collection of antique herbarium. 
A polychromatic palette, virtuously combined and juxtaposed with plant samples, creates fascinating effects in which one can recognise a great deal of creative freedom that never flares into chaos. 
Like memories, his prints seem to take shape through layering, sedimentation, and the merging of images, colours, sounds, and scents. More than fashionable garments, his creations are one-of-a-kind paintings and prints rendered in a form that can also be worn. 

Like traditional fairytales, ominous storylines collide with delicious illusions in the work of Martin Bergström. Educated in Stockholm at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, and at Universität der Künste, Berlin, his MA in textiles has turned his compass towards fashion. Still, his first love has always been fiction - bringing mesmerising stories to life through creative direction, set design, costume and illustration.