Rachel studied Fine Art at Middlesex University 1989-91. Initially she explored experimental art using plants (including growing them in unexpected places, such as furniture, and carving vegetables then filming them using stop motion), then later discovering a love of casting while on a glass blowing course. After leaving college, Rachel trained as a prop maker for the English National Opera. She worked freelance for 15 years at numerous theatres and museums, including Madame Tussauds, the Royal Opera House and Shakespeare’s Globe in London. She exhibited at a local gallery and immediately began getting commissions. As a personal project, Rachel decided to preserve the range of flowers she’d used for her wedding and thus her love affair with botanical work began.
PRESS & EXHIBITIONS
Rachel’s art has been published in Elle Decoration, House & Garden, Vogue, Architectural Digest, Gardens Illustrated, Period Living, Country Life, Daily Telegraph, Martha Stewart Living, Irish Times and Gardenia. Recent books that feature her work include ‘In Bloom’, ‘Cast’ and ‘The Botanical Bible’. Previous exhibitions include The Cambridge Darkroom Gallery, Ben Uri Gallery, Hampstead School of Art, Daniel Raphael Gallery. Rachel’s botanical pieces are held in collections around the world.
Rachel has exhibited at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London for almost a decade. She was artist-in-residence at the National Trust’s Hidcote Manor Gardens in 2018/19.
Commissions include Raymond Blanc’s restaurant Jardin Blanc, Huishan Zhang’s Mayfair boutique, Hide restaurant in Piccadilly, and for Lord and Lady Northampton’s hotel, the Falcon Castle Ashby. Rachel’s private commission are held in collections around the world
