MISS JOAQUIM ORCHID | Kinetic Advertising, Singapore.
For this project I was commissioned by design agency Kinetic Singapore to create a life-sized paper Orchid. The particular species I was to make was Miss Joaquim, a hybrid created by Agnes Joaquim, a Horticulturalist from Singapore. This was the first hybrid to be documented in the country and became Singapore’s national flower, representing its uniqueness and hybrid culture.
The Orchid was to be displayed at the Unnatural History Museum, created for Singapore Design Week 2025, which showcased some of Singapore’s more curious creations.
The team at Kinetic contacted me asking if this was a project I would be interested in taking on and if I could provide a quote to give them an idea of the budget and time frame. I provided them with an initial quote and ideas of how we could adapt the orchid to fit the budget they had in mind, including different ways of building it and then shipping it to Singapore.
Kinetic decided they wanted to move forward and commission me to create the sculpture so together we worked out a timeline with an initial proposal, amendments, agreement of the final design and then the completion date and shipping. We also agreed check in dates where I would email with images to keep the team update with my progress and the dates for payment instalments.
I was emailed lots of images of the orchid they wanted me to make and the dimensions they wanted me to work within. I used this information to create a collection of sketches and diagrams for my proposal and once the final details were agreed I started making.
The team at Kinetic had asked for the plant to have no text visible on it like some of my other sculptures do. I chose to use tissue packing paper as it had a delicate quality to it with no text and was still a recycled paper. The stems were also bound with tissue paper rather than thread to mimic the smooth stems and ariel roots of the original plant. Each petal was hand painted separately with watercolour paint before being assembled into a whole flower head.
As this was such a large plant to create I spent time planning each stem, working out how long it would be and then how many flowerheads, leaves and roots needed to be attached to make sure the final display looked full and realistic.
Miss Joaquim Orchid | Recycled Paper and Wire | 45 x 100 cm | 2025.
As this sculpture was taller than the free-standing paper flowers I usually make, I had planned time into the project to make sure I could test some different ways of giving the orchid some structure and create a secure base for it. The orchid also had to survive the journey to Singapore so I had to make sure whatever I built could be easily packed and unpacked again to make shipping as smooth as possible.
I decided to make the orchid stems separate from the undergrowth and root system, building gaps into the base for the stems to stand in once they had arrived. This meant I could make the orchid taller than I had originally thought possible and it gave the Kinetic team some freedom over how the flowers were positioned at the other end. It also stopped the stems getting damaged on the way as they could be packed separately from the base and secured in their own box.
The final piece arrived in Singapore in plenty of time, safe and sound, and was displayed in the entrance of the museum during Singapore Design Week 2025 in its own display case.
If you would like to talk about commissioning a piece you can fill out the commission enquiry form here, or email me at hello@katekato.com.
Miss Joaquim Orchid | Recycled Paper and Wire | 45 x 100 cm | 2025.
Photograph credit: Kinetic Design Singapore.