Rusak’s Art is visual poetry between life and afterlife
No one reinvents the cyclical nature of creation the way Marcin Rusak does, which is especially present in his newest installation in Alcov, The Ghost Orchid. Sculptures of birth, blossom, decay and rebirth, caught in 3D biodegradable print, show why Rusak is one of the leaders of living design.
The Warsaw-born designer and artist has made an international name for himself through material innovation by molding botany into objects that seem to exist somewhere between life and afterlife.
Drawing inspiration from his family’s legacy in orchid cultivation, Rusak charts an intensely individual artistic path, one that doesn’t respect the boundries of classical art, design or science, but uses the best of each and blends it into unique storytelling pieces. His work is a meditation on dichotomies: tradition and innovation, nature and artifice, ephemeral and endurance.
The Artist’s Manifesto: Design is a Laboratory for Experiencing Phenomena
At the heart of Rusak’s practice lies a deep fascination with organic ephemerality: design process is positioned as a magnifying lens that observes changes in nature.
Rather than preserving flowers in the traditional sense, he captures them mid-transformation — drying, embedding, and crystallizing natural elements into surfaces and structures.
His now-iconic Flora Collection encases dried blooms in resin, forming richly textured cabinets, tables, and wall panels where time appears to stand still.
Here, opposing forces are at play: the delicate fragility of petals suspended in the enduring, almost clinical permanence of synthetic resin. The artificial polymer carries within it the biodegradable potential of nature, creating a dialogue between the natural and the industrial.
Series like Perma and Tephra push this conversation further.
Rusak’s choice of materials is never random, it is a conscious merging of scientific technique with artistic expression. By refusing the narrow dictates of tradition, he reminds us of the true meaning of “manufacturing” — from Latin manu facere, “made by hand.” In his work, the palimpsest of heritage remains visible, yet it is molded into new forms that walk the fine line between what is given to artist as tradition and what he shapes it into with his own vision.
Ghost Orchid: A Haunting at Alcova
At Milan Design Week 2025, Rusak presented Ghost Orchid at Alcova, one of the most talked-about installations of the season.
Set within the abandoned Pasino Glasshouses, once Europe’s largest orchid nursery, the project was a poignant homage to the site’s forgotten history as well as artists own family history as orchid gardeners.
Collaborating with scientists from the Łukasiewicz Institute for Polymer Materials and Dyes, Rusak created 3D-printed biodegradable sculptures using polylactic acid. Designed to decompose through enzyme-bacterial processes, these sculptures embody decay and regeneration simultaneously. Just as the abandoned greenhouses, left to entropy, have now been reclaimed to host new life forms.
The installation entraps the observer with a strong interplay of dichotomies:
The daintiness of the orchid against the monumentality of the sculptures. The nighttime blossoming of real orchids juxtaposed with the daylight luminosity of Rusak’s synthetic “flowers”. The ode to the history of Alcova with the experimental freshness and modernity of the installation. Ghost Orchid is not simply an installation; it is a space to feel, to witness the process and to accept the change.
A New Language of Design
What sets Marcin Rusak apart is not just his mastery of materials, but his philosophy. Rather than resisting nature’s course, he embraces transformation — crafting pieces that are meant to change, age, and fade. His work challenges traditional postulates of artistic creation, merging science, craftsmanship, and aesthetic instinct into one cohesive practice. He bypasses rigid categories — art or design, permanence or decay, beauty or function — and instead inhabits the spaces in between. In doing so, he captures something profoundly contemporary yet timeless, the acceptance that nothing static truly lives. Through his objects, Rusak gently challenges us to rethink permanence, value, and utility. In a world chasing the next new thing, he reminds us that the most profound stories are sometimes those etched in the act of transformation, not replacement.
Looking Forward
With ventures like MRM — a platform exploring experimental metal manufacturing, and growing collaborations across science and art, Marcin Rusak continues to expand the boundaries of material innovation. His creations don’t just decorate spaces; they transform our perception of nature, time, and memory. Perhaps most importantly, the work signals a timeless truth, nothing truly beautiful ever disappears, it only changes form.
