Chelsea Flower Show: A London Design Tradition

Every May, London hosts the iconic Chelsea Flower Show, organised by the Royal Horticultural Society. Since 1913, it has grown from a traditional horticultural exhibition into one of the world’s most influential celebrations of outdoor design, creativity, and craftsmanship.

LVF Creative Studio x Birdie Fortescue

This year at Chelsea, Birdie Fortescue joins forces with Lucy Vail of LVF Creative Studio in a collaboration that brings together interiors, floristry and immersive set design into one beautifully imagined world.

LVF Creative Studio is an international design house known for creating bespoke, atmospheric environments. A collective of scenic designers, florists, artisans, and makers, the studio specialises in “custom opulence”- crafting spaces that are rich in detail, layered in narrative, and designed to stir the senses. Every project begins with a story, built through colour, texture, and composition, resulting in worlds that feel entirely unique and emotionally immersive. Follow them on Instagram here.

At the heart of this collaboration is a shared design philosophy: that beautiful objects, rich colour, and considered craftsmanship should come together to create spaces that feel alive. Birdie Fortescue’s artisan-led collections, shaped by a lifelong love of global travel and traditional making, sit naturally alongside LVF’s theatrical, story-driven approach to floral and spatial design.

For Chelsea, the concept draws inspiration from the romantic world of Cecil Beaton’s flowering conservatories. Climbing jasmine, clematis, and garden roses will soften and transform the structure, creating an enchanted garden room where inside and outside dissolve into one another. Tumbling seasonal planting, including geraniums, grounds the edges, adding warmth, depth and a sense of natural abundance.

The result is a fully immersive space - part interior, part garden - where visitors are invited into a layered world of scent, texture, and storytelling. It is a fitting expression of both brands, reflecting a shared belief that design is not just something to look at, but something to step inside and experience.

We can’t wait to share it with you! 

A Brief History of Chelsea Flower Show

Originally focused on rare plants and botanical excellence, Chelsea quickly became a defining moment in London’s cultural calendar. Following a wartime pause between 1940–1947, the show returned as a symbol of renewal and optimism, steadily expanding in scale, ambition, and imagination.

By the late 20th century, it had evolved again -this time into a platform for garden design as storytelling, where mood, structure, and layered planting became just as important as the plants themselves.

Garden Design and Brand Collaborations at Chelsea

From the late 1990s onwards, the Royal Horticultural Society increasingly embraced sponsored gardens and creative collaborations. This shift welcomed design-led and lifestyle brands into Chelsea’s creative landscape, helping transform gardens into immersive, curated environments that sit between horticulture and interior design.

The Chelsea Pensioners: A Living Tradition

A unique and much-loved part of the show is the presence of the Chelsea Pensioners-retired British Army veterans who reside at the Royal Hospital. Each year, they play a proud and visible role, warmly welcoming visitors and embodying the heritage, continuity, and spirit of Chelsea.

Chelsea Today: Where Gardens Meet High Design

Today, Chelsea sits at the intersection of gardening and high design. Outdoor areas are conceived as extensions of the home, with planting schemes treated with the same attention to composition, texture, and atmosphere as interior projects.

From sweeping show gardens to intricate floral installations, inspiration unfolds at every turn. The event also draws a global creative audience, with royalty, actors, designers, and fashion figures often spotted among the blooms.

Birdie Fortescue at Chelsea Flower Show

Against this vibrant backdrop, Chelsea provides the perfect stage for the Birdie Fortescue brand - a moment to share our garden-inspired collaboration in full bloom, under sunshine-filled skies… and, true to Chelsea form, the occasional refreshing downpour.

Last Year’s Success with Butter Wakefield

At last year’s Chelsea Flower Show, we were thrilled to receive a prestigious Four Star Trade Stand Award from the Royal Horticultural Society - a wonderful recognition of the creativity, passion, and detail behind our display. At the heart of the stand was The Nasturtium Collection, inspired by Butter Wakefield’s favourite summer flower and brought to life through bold pattern, vibrant tablescaping, floral linens, hand painted planters, decorative glassware, and soft furnishings.

To celebrate, we hosted an intimate press event where guests enjoyed drinks in the evening sunshine while Butter led a tablescaping masterclass using tumbling summer flowers and pieces from the collection. It was a wonderful evening of creativity, colour, and celebration.

A very limited re-release of our Nasturtium print table runners and coordinating napkins is now available online - a chance to bring home a piece of last year’s award-winning Chelsea collection while stocks last.

Shop the collection here!

Chelsea Flower Show 2026

Birdie Fortescue x LVF Creative Studio arrive next week at Chelsea Flower Show 2026 with a collaboration rooted in immersive design, floristry, and storytelling. Inspired by the romantic conservatory worlds of Cecil Beaton, the installation dissolves the boundaries between indoors and outdoors, unfolding as a richly layered garden room alive with texture, colour, and atmosphere. It continues Chelsea’s long-standing legacy as a meeting point between horticulture and high design, where creativity, craft, and narrative come together in full bloom. 

More information and tickets for the show here!