We’re delighted to be able to reveal an early look at ‘Flora: The Graphic Book of the Garden’, a wonderfully illustrated title that is the result of a yearlong collaboration between Sam Falconer and Melissa Smith at Aurum Press that’s set to be officially launched later this year.

‘Flora’ is one of the latest in a series of luxury non-fiction titles published by Aurum, each providing a broad yet carefully considered insight into a select topic with every page boasting beautifully visualised graphics. Sam was the natural choice for ‘Flora’, with his portfolio of lush, information-rich illustrations and his particular bent for natural science. His artwork strikes the right balance between modern and traditional, conveying the intricate handling typical of botanical subject matter but presented with a contemporary outlook.

Illustrating all of the one hundred odd spreads was no mean feat, and Sam found the experience to be a productive learning curve: ‘Over the past few years I have been trying more and more to incorporate elements of the natural world in to my work, so when the opportunity arose to be involved with this project it felt like perfect timing. Throughout the process I found my normal approach evolving to solve some of the problems that I was encountering. For example, the need for much more fluid lines than I was used to and a quicker turnaround on line work forced a long overdue change to my tablet set up, which I am very grateful for now!

The sheer volume of spreads was pretty daunting at first and now I’m at the other end of the process I’m not quite sure how I managed all of them. It was very much a memorable experience though that I think will have a marked effect on my work for years to come. Thanks to Laura and Melissa for bringing the project to reality’.

View Sam's full portfolio of illustration and bio - here