The visual botanist

Designer/illustrator Miranda Brown’s creative practice is one of connecting people to nature through beautiful illustrations that reflect the natural world.

Her work in architectural spaces, interiors and customised fixtures is a finalist in spatial design in the New Zealand Best Design Awards 2017, for her collaboration with Amanda Hookham-Kraft from Regenesis Design for the office interior of the Geyser Building in Parnell.

The bathroom walls are adorned with Brown’s native flowers, bare concrete poles are given new surface textures, and the glass walls of the meeting rooms are embedded with designs based on biological patterning in laser-cut transparencies.

Her ‘Lovebirds’ series, featuring the flora and fauna of the Canterbury region, hangs on curtains between beds in Burwood Hospital in Christchurch.

Brown sees herself as a 21st century version of a Victorian botanical and zoological illustrator but she’s also interested in the visual language shared between biology and cosmology.

“The blend of those two visual genres reminds us that we are not only part of nature but part of a wider universe also,” says Brown. “I’m deeply inspired by the natural world and my intention is to integrate beauty into spaces to celebrate our natural and cultural identity in a meaningful way.”