Cologne-based artist and designer Hannes Hummel has long been interested in the intersection of digital tools and nature. Previously collaborating on an elaborate collection of artificial specimens, Hummel’s latest project pushes the boundaries of floral design to a bizarrely beautiful place.
Eighty unearthly botanical renderings comprise Hybrid Species, a vast herbarium of imagined organisms. Translucent petals lined with bright veins, pistils dripping with a sticky liquid, and leaves winding like tubular tendrils propel the hyperrealistic flowers into an otherworldly realm.
Much of Hummel’s work involves plugging photos and natural patterns like tessellations and fractals into digital programs. For this series, he trained an A.I. model with his own images and 3D models, exploring the personally generative potential of the tools without incorporating others’ copyrighted works. He writes:
Like nature, the process sometimes veers off in unexpected directions, feeling random at times, while at others, it follows a clear path, uncovering new possibilities. This intersection between human imagination and machine-driven innovation fascinates me most in each flower design. In this series, nature is portrayed not as it is, but as it could be—reimagined, reshaped, and rendered through algorithms.
A fraction of Hybrid Species is shown here, so head to Instagram for more of Hummel’s digital creations.
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