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How to grow a 10-metre levitating mimosa tree in just 78 days (from the seed of an idea)

Our client, Sarah Feather Design, had an idea for her client, the London department store, Peter Jones. “A 10-metre high, picture-perfect, realistic mimosa tree”, they said. “No problem”, we said. Until they told us they wanted it levitating 20 metres off the ground. In the store. Above peoples’ heads!

Plunge creations sarah feather floating tree

Plunge creations sarah feather floating tree from below

Gimme the stats

Plunge makers x19
Tree-sculpting hours x1,872
Height 10m
Fluffy mimosa stems x1,155
Weight 260kg
Nervous roof structures x1
Amazed shoppers thousands

Let the spectacle begin

Peter Jones, in Sloane Square, is part of John Lewis & Partners. Great name. Great reputation. Equally great expectations. The tree had to be anatomically accurate from its blossoms to its roots. A full-scale whopper of a statement piece, magically hanging in the thin air of the store’s atrium – as you do.

Tree v ceiling

Have you any idea how heavy a 10-metre mimosa tree is? Neither do we, but it’s a lot more than Peter Jones’ ceiling can handle. This wasn’t just a creative conundrum; it was a logistical brain stumper.

Our MD, Tim Simpson, summed the challenge up perfectly:

The idea was irresistibly audacious, and yet we knew there were going to be a mass of challenges, as the ceiling had a very low load rating. There are some projects that fill you with equal amounts of excitement and fear. This was one of them.

Tree surgeons assemble

The idea was to suspend the tree and disbelief. It had to look like a giant had pulled it up by the roots, tossed it into the air and some magical force was keeping it dangling there. Shoppers would walk right underneath it on the ground floor and follow it right to the top as they ascended the store’s escalators.

The tree had to be as light as possible. So, a complex aluminium armature was clad in polystyrene and herculite. This gave us the basic shape, then a mini army of model makers set to, with paint and twigs and fluffy tufts of fake mimosa blossoms.

It looked stunning. Just like a real mimosa tree. But that was only half the story, now we had to make it levitate.

This was the bit where creativity had to bow to engineering. So, hard hats on, we tested the integrity of the tree by hanging it from a crane in our workshop yard.

Of course, we already knew it was rock solid, but still, you have to check these things – Health & Safety and all that. And of course, it hung straight and true.

Next step, our installation team and a gang of riggers worked their magic getting the tree into position at the store. And the end result was truly spectacular.