How Carl Ostberg Turns Petals Into Playful Works of Art
How Carl Ostberg Turns Petals Into Playful Works of Art
Delsey Paris x VISUALPLEASURE
NEW HORIZONS - WORLD TOUR 2024
CANADIAN Artist of the week - Carl Ostberg
Name:
Delsey Paris x VISUALPLEASURE
NEW HORIZONS - WORLD TOUR 2024
CANADIAN Artist of the week - Carl Ostberg
Photography:
Carl Ostberg
Words:
Erica Nichols
Carl Ostberg knows that while flowers may be delicate, they don’t need to be precious. The photographer and florist resides in Vancouver, Canada, where he’s made a career out of transforming gentle blooms, fruits, vegetables, and products into playful pictures that never feel overproduced. Learn more about how he finds the balance between subject and space, which florals he likes to work with best, and what he created for our DELSEY Paris collaboration.
Your work extends across a range of different mediums. What was your starting point and what do you love most about exploring those different mediums?
Carl Ostberg: My first creative mediums are ones that I still go back to time and again: flowers and Barbies — although now I get to style real people instead of dolls.. I was foraging my mom’s garden to collect flowers for my arrangements at two years old. Then I graduated to Barbies; spending hours dressing them up in my favorite outfits, posing them, and taking photos on my little film point-and-shoot camera. Swap Barbies for live models, and I’m still doing the same thing to this day. It’s easy to become disconnected from the initial spark that drew you to this creative work, but maturing is knowing the good work always comes from returning to that original source.
What comes first in your creative process? Are you visualizing the final product, starting with a flower, creating a set in your mind?
My creative process is always based on an idea of a finished product. I have an image in my mind that I approach the set or arrangement with, but I always know it is just an ideal. You always have to be open and willing to adapt and change. You have to take a step back and look at how the scene is unfolding and know when to pivot. Working with organic materials means that you need to have that flexibility because they dont always behave the way you want them to, but that is also what gives the scene magic and life.
How do you balance so many different elements in a project?
I worked as a florist for several years, and that work is all about finding balance in complex elements by boiling them down into their most basic visual forms. You have your big bold main-characters flowers, now you have to push back against those in an interesting way with your medium sized flowers, and then you ground the whole bouquet with smaller, less showy ones. It’s the same practice in a highly-stylized scene; I like to have organic elements balanced with structured ones, modern with timeless, soft shapes with hard lines. It’s balanced, but without losing the tension.
What flowers do you find yourself always going back to? Any that give you the biggest challenge or greatest reward?
There are a few flowers I go back to again and again — a sentimental rose reminds me of my Nana, pansies remind me of my mom — I also love flowers that have grumpy little faces, like orchids. I’m drawn to anything with lots of character; big swoops and unexpected curves. I love pairing a tropical flower, like an anthurium that’s really structured, with something soft and unexpected like an Icelandic poppy, it creates a hypernatural world that exists nowhere in reality, but can live symbiotically in a created world.
What do you hope people see or feel in your work?
The feeling is going to vary from image to image, but I do think there is always an element of playfulness in the work. Maybe it’s campy, maybe it’s surreal, or grandiose; sometimes it’s just a subtle wink. I could be doing something very brooding and serious, but there’s gotta be that lightness somewhere in the piece to really spark a relationship with the viewer.
What are some of the most important qualities in a photo to you? How do you know when you’ve “got the shot?”
When the work feels too stiff or precious it kills the whole thing. I love the energy that other people bring to the set, and I want that creative energy to carry through to the shot. Too much fiddling with a set up can dampen that excitement and make an image feel overproduced — it takes away some of the heart from the scene. You have to use your creative intuition to know when you’ve refined a shot just enough. It often happens in sync with others on set. Suddenly you just know “we’ve got the shot,” it’s a collective sense.
“I like to have organic elements balanced with structured ones, modern with timeless, soft shapes with hard lines. It’s balanced, but without losing the tension.”
When you need a dose of inspiration, where do you find it?
I find inspiration when I allow myself time to play. Whether it’s doing a personal project with a team of people, or just puttering away in the studio by myself, having time and space and breathing room with the work is where I find my voice. It is easy to get caught up in doing commercial work, but the inspiration will run dry if you don’t make work for yourself. Creativity is like a muscle and the more you work it, the stronger it gets.
How does travel influence your work and world view as an artist?
The local plants, produce, and flowers are always an inspiration when traveling. I’m not big on plans, I like to allow myself to explore. But hitting up the local flower and produce markets are always a must. And I always walk away with some fun new tchotchke that sparks a shoot.
Talk to us about what you’re creating DELSEY.
The images I shot for Delsey Paris were all taken on Bowen Island (Nex̱wlélex̱wm), only a short ferry ride from Vancouver. Bowen is a very special place for me and a huge source of inspiration. I am drawn to the rural landscape, the rugged coastline, and the special way the light sparkles on the water. The concept of the shoot was to showcase the harshness of the Pacific Northwest landscape in contrast to the structure and clean lines of the DELSEY Paris cases. I wanted the images to be bold and striking. You’ll see a lot of joyful angles, playful perspectives, and unexpected combinations of terrain and fashion. The DELSEY Paris cases make a strong singular statement and play in really interesting ways within the environments they’re in.
What’s in your DELSEY?
I am a bit of a creature of habit, so having some of my morning ritual with me gives me some security and makes me feel comfortable and relaxed while away from home. Some of this routine would be my favorite locally made face mist, my vitamins, and a special face serum or scent.
“Creativity is like a muscle and the more you work it, the stronger it gets.”
