Designed & Made in Cheshire
Hello, I'm Nat. I design and make every Poppily piece myself: part designer, part engineer, and fully obsessive about what I do!
After 15 years working as a graphic designer, becoming a mum gave me space to turn my eye to my own home. I love flowers, but hate watching them wilt - so I went hunting for a specific piece of decor: sculptural wooden flowers made as a graphic art object. I searched everywhere, but couldn't find anything I loved, so I decided to create them myself.
(I was fairly sleep-deprived at this point).
A steep learning curve ...
I bought a kit-build CNC machine that arrived like a giant Meccano set & spent endless nights on woodworking forums feeling like a complete wally. Over two years of prototyping and refinement, I filled my workshop with tools, timber, and hard-won skills. I learned a lot about wood, even more about my own determination, and eventually figured out how to bring the sculptural forms in my head into physical reality.
"Always the arty one in the science class, and the geeky one in the art class."
Growing up, I was always the arty one in science class and the geeky one in art class, slightly out of place in most rooms. My career followed that same split path: 15 years as an in-house designer (art-directing photoshoots, with trips to Paris and Première Vision for trend palettes), followed by a spell at a Singapore tech start-up, turning complex data science into intuitive human experiences.
A collision of art and engineering
It wasn't until I started working on Poppily that I realized I could be both, and that’s my natural niche. I love designing beautiful, clever things. Sculptural graphic blooms with precision interlocking parts and custom-engineered packaging is the most me thing ever: designed with an artist’s eye, built with an engineer's precision.
Botanical form, reimagined in wood
Every Poppily piece is a graphic interpretation of nature. Saturated, matte pigment is rolled onto FSC-certified timber before each component is precision-cut, creating crisp facets framed by toasted edges. Bold and architectural from across the room, full of tactile detail up close.
Still my obsession
Every piece begins as a loose sketch in my studio before being translated into exact digital toolpaths. In the workshop, I cut and shape the timber using a blend of CNC machinery, laser precision, and hand-lathe turning. Parts are hand-finished and assembled one by one. A single Statement Bloom is brought to life from 68 separate components. I’m still just as obsessed today as when I launched - there’s nothing better than seeing something I built by hand take pride of place in your home.
Thanks for being here. I hope you find one that feels like yours.
Nat x