IN CONVERSATION WITH WORM STUDIO
Worm Studio for Radicchio, not Roses 2025 Campaign
Roses sold for Valentine's Day in February generate big business, but this means growing them out of their natural season. The creation of the artificial conditions needed to cultivate them have serious consequences for the planet.
Instead, we’re thinking seasonally, and giving Radicchio, Not Roses. Currently, at its peak, Radicchio hand grown in Veneto is a seasonal alternative to Valentine’s roses that also brings flavor to the table. As part of this year’s campaign, we've partnered with East London-based creative floral designers Worm Studio, who make arrangements and installations using seasonal produce, and are committed to driving environmental change in the floristry industry at large.
To challenge the idea of traditional rose bouquets for Valentine’s Day, we commissioned them to create an installation using Antonello’s sand-forced Pink Radicchio. The result, shot amid his fields in Veneto, was an artwork set upon a body, truly connecting the beauty of these plants with all of the very human effort that goes into growing them.
To hear more about the project, we caught up with Terri and Katie from Worm, discussing their craft, as well as the inspiration they took from Antonello’s farm.
What is the importance of working seasonally, whether you are styling produce or flowers?
We are really committing ourselves to be as sustainable as possible in a floristry industry that doesn’t have a great track record with being overly kind to the world.
It’s also more enjoyable. Everything is more interesting, exciting and inspiring in season. Flowers that we buy from local growers in May have so much more personality than those flown to us. It’s shocking that we think that it’s okay to have flowers that need to be flown from Ecuador to Britain to make our tables look pretty.
Consumers are questioning where what they buy is coming from; a lot of companies we work with have sustainability forms to fill out at the start of the project – that is really wonderful to see.
How did the radicchio inspire you, and how did you conceptualize the human sculpture that you came up with in the end?
We thought about the campaign and what it stands for. Lately, we have been really inspired by land art, and we loved the thought of shooting the radicchio in the field it had been grown in, which is the true hero really.
We love the artist Ana Mendieta and particularly her image Flowers on body. When we were looking at land art and how to display the radicchio, in the field we felt like an anonymous being, almost wearing the produce, in the field where they are grown, felt right.
The way the radicchio are grown and then forced takes so much human nurturing, so much done by human hand, setting the seed, harvesting, planting in the forcing shed, harvesting again, cleaning up and boxing to go to market. It felt right to have a person there holding and wearing the produce on their body, and we wanted to shoot it very simply. The produce is so beautiful that it doesn’t need to be manipulated into intricate designs, so we loved the thought of seeing and showing it en masse.
The energy on the land is really hard to describe – there are not a lot of workers. It is so peaceful and it feels sacred because what Antonello and his family are doing feels almost spiritual. It was bitterly cold when we were setting the shot up, but there was also the most bright and beautiful natural light. We felt really lucky to be there.
Sand-forcing is a time-honored tradition. What was it like to work with something that has been so painstakingly grown?
It was amazing to see how Antonello and his family do everything themselves from start to finish. Being able to see it from seed to farm to forcing shed and then on the table for our lunch was unforgettable. The passion and pride that goes into it all makes the produce feel so much more valuable to work with. When we grow flowers ourselves, arranging with them feels all the more precious and valuable, so to be able to see the whole process – seed to table – with all the love that goes into it, made this experience with Antonello’s radicchios really special.
Your styling draws a clear link between the radicchio and the people who work so hard to grow it. What do you hope people take away from the images?
We want them to feel the love and pride that goes into making the produce. I wish we had the privilege of seeing all the produce that we eat or work with in its full cycle, like we did at Antonello’s farm. It makes consuming it all the more pleasurable.
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