From Ayurveda,

To Apothecary

Like a seed that was planted years ago, our continuing love for plants flowers into a print opus on the beauty and healing power of plants. Plant Family takes inspiration from our childhood memories of the garden. From Ayurveda to Apothecary, we take in the cultural and personal impact of the Plant Family and render it in beautiful floral prints of contrasting greens. Pops of pink, sunny yellows, and trippy geometries add whimsy and balance. A healing and inspiring collection of Fabrics, Furnishings, Dining and Décor. The freedom of choice to paint your own personal memories of the garden.

Each of the hero prints we’ve developed for our Spring-Summer 2024 collection are a celebration of particularly beautiful flowering plants that also hold a deep cultural familiarity in everyday use as healing and rejuvenating ingredients.

Kachnar

Bauhinia Variegata

Plant Benefit: February and March are festive months marking the turn of spring. The harvest is in, women collect the buds and flowers which are medicinal for skin and soreness. The bark of this tree is useful to regularise menstrual function and glandular problems.

Vidari

Passiflora caerulea

The Passion flower is a most beautiful flowering plant with intriguing tendril like petals. It comes with a legacy woven into the fabric of traditional healing and libation.

The Vidari print is like a calming beacon on a midsummer night, filled with fireflies and modern neon green. The dark ground is a counterpoint to pastel colors, and is a standout piece as a cotton printed bedcover. The fabric is fabulous on accent chairs and sofas in living areas. It also works as a neutral and attitudinal floral for workspaces. Pair it with dark graphic prints and stripes.

Vidari appears on table linens in its blue-purple version, Freedom Tree’s take on summer nights. In its pastel mint version, it is as natural as herbal teas that bring the body and mind to harmony.

Plant Benefit: First, there is the sheer beauty of looking at this plant - its purple and blue hues. Traditionally it has been used as a calming herb for anxiety and insomnia. It results in relaxation, enhanced mood and better sleep. More recently, it is a taste-maker in drinks and infused into a variety of decoctions. It transcends the conventional approach, recognizing that mental well-being is intricately linked with physical, emotional, and spiritual elements.

Sativa

Cannabis Sativa

Our sneaky protest print. A call to unplug from today's information overload - to rest the mind and let it unload. Sativa, is a delicate block layout inspired by scientific sketches from the 1950s, outlining the leaf structure of the primary cannabis families. A stimulant, an exhilarant, an aphrodisiac and then a sedative.

Find this gentle print in a pastel color on restful bedding. Fashionable green and textured cushions to lay against. And in a hazy sheer of green, modern cotton cambric curtains framing faraway dreams. Also look out for it in coasters and small giftables.

Plant Benefit: Honored as one of the precious things that came out of the primeval sea, Indian hemp or cannabis was taken by the king of gods to attain immortality. At a later point, in temples as a ritual drink to reach religious ecstasy and a ceremonial sherbet for the courts. Religious and recreational, during Holi, after the harvest, it is a universally consumed drink of un-inhibited gaiety dissolving caste and social lines. Ayurvedic medicine has used hemp for alleviation of pain, as an analgesic, and the fibers have made an appearance in everything from the rigging of sailing ships from the great age of exploration to trendy (and itchy) couture on modern runways.

Arka

Calotropis gigantea

The design is an abstraction of a plant native to Asia and found in temple courtyards across the continent. Its considered royal and its long-lasting flowers are used in decorations and leis as far as Hawaii. Araka, the Sanskrit name, has myriad geometries, the pentangular structured flower in layers and the stunning seed have inspired this very simple lattice print.

A pattern that is expansive yet linear, it is a perfect complement to the florals in a collection. Find it in neutral and tonal greens for living room upholsteries or cushions. In beautiful gold and coral which softened it for bedding uses.

For hosting, on trays and dining linens it appears in high fashion green handpainted on ceramics and enamel, giving an extra punch to summer parties.

Plant Benefits: On one hand the plant has strong associations with rituals for the divine, and its applications in daily life are manifold. Pentangular flowers are offered to Shiva for prosperity and stability in society. Its durable fibers are used for ropes and fishing nets. Delicate candy floss from the seeds can be used for pillows. It has been a folk remedy for years for respiratory, skin, circulatory and gastric upsets. It’s an antidote for snake bites and research is on for the fight against cancer.

Aphim

Papaver somniferum L.

A stylized version of the poppy seed pod, Aphim, stands in lines. Some erect, others upside down, much like the hallucinogenic qualities; hypnotic and sedative. Reminiscent of endless “Seas of Poppies,” the regular lines give this print a calming effect. Where the reverse ground color also stands out as liquified ogees.

Aphim, the design finds itself on various home products, always in a different guise. In surprising rhythmic colors on upholstery. Clean and fresh against summer whites, welcoming in filtered light for bedlinen and sheers. Cast in metal, the stylised Aphim seed pod can be found on our barware and entertaining accessories this season.

Plant Benefits: A most important medicinal plant. An astringent, an aphrodisiac, an anesthetic, and a therapeutic for pain relief. In Ayurveda, purified opium is described to balance the vaya and kapda doshas and enhance pitta dosha.

Marica

Piper nigrum

Pepper. Black Gold. One of the most important articles of Indian trade, grows natively on the Malabar coast of southern India. A powerful punch of flavor in a little seed kernel. This little granule has built and destroyed empires and re-arranged the very architecture of global power during the early colonial period.

The design has been made keeping this amazing little spice in mind. A spice and medicine; a preservative with a culinary zing. The print appears in the colors we relate to peppercorns. Light green when on the vines, to pulsating greens with spicy peppery pinks. The throbbing round dot forms speak to the flavor burst of pepper. A sensation larger than its real size in life.

At Freedom Tree are all-in with this print: using it as large retro furnishings for sofas and accents, to small bits of brightness on table linens. The calming colors and architectural forms allow us to bring this age-old spice print softly into bedrooms.

Plant Benefits: An almost legendary plant from Malabar. During the height of the Portuguese trade, the growers went to the Zamorin of Calicut, alarmed that the vines were being carried off by the merchants. The Zamorin calmly reminded them, “Can the Portuguese take away the last monsoon rain that gives pepper its special flavour?” You can take the spice from the land, but not the land from the spice. A fabulous preserve for meat and plant pickles. Ayurveda prescribes it as an aromatic for coughs, bronchial and stomach complaints. It has also been used as a transitional Indian compound against cholera.

Tamara

Nelumbo nucifera

The lotus in Indian and Asian philosophy is the symbol of enlightenment, an exemplar of the soul; the doorway that opens backward into the birth waters, or forward into revelation. The beautiful Lotus grows out singularly amidst murky swampy waters, a metaphor for the seeker of enlightenment in a world filled with distraction.

The Tamara Lotus pod print, is the graphic seed holder of the lotus. An abstraction in concentric circles, much like many chakras, it repeats itself in naïve, organic quatrefoils. Seemingly unconnected, somewhat dissected, bringing to the forefront a fractal monochrome design language for textiles.

We recommend the print as a smart new neutral with dynamic qualities for masculine spaces. Its softened contours allow it to be worked into warmer welcoming spaces as well.

Plant Benefits: The beauty of the Lotus itself is considered a medicine. Appropriately the properties of the Lotus appear to aid concentration for wisdom and meditation. Ayurveda extracts medicines which are anti-allergenic, astringent and antispasmodic.

Juba

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

A print we developed during the Covid lockdowns, we bring it back in a new colorway. Like the original flower - a healthy hibiscus, a Japanese ornamental flower – our print features a blooming growth of lovely lantern like petals.

The print is in a modern teal, making it cool for spring and summer interior curtains and upholsteries. The small scale of the organically sprawling print makes it an easy complement to other furnishings in the room. The popular color tone and unobtrusive micro-print allows it to be combined into home and commercial spaces alike.

Plant Benefits: Hibiscus, while being beautiful and ornamental in the garden, is also an oblation to deities. It is used for personal ornamentation and oil infusions for hair. It also has properties from flowers to roots towards for female health. It is naturally cooling for summer drinks, a diuretic, an anti-inflammatory and good for heart health. Drink up!

From Bud to Blossom: Our new Spring-Summer Collection Sprouts 🦋🌱🌤️