Hi I’m Joanna
I preserve flowers into framed artworks that age alongside you. Made in Perth, by hand.
For many years, you might have known me as The Gallery J. It started from my kitchen table, eventually grew into my own little studio and in 2025 I decided it was finally time to put my own name behind the work.
That change felt quite personal to me. After years of hiding a little behind a business name, using Joanna Hiu felt like saying, " This is me, this is my work and I am proud to put my name to it.”
Today, I preserve flowers from weddings, memorials, gardens and other moments people want to hold onto.
The process is slow.
Each flower is carefully prepared and pressed, sometimes petal by petal. Over the following weeks and months, I work with what nature gives me and bring everything back together into a piece made from your original flowers.
They will change with time. Pressed flowers are still natural materials, and I think there is something quite special about allowing them to be that.
What matters to me is creating something that still feels like yours.
I also love teaching people how to do this themselves.
Through my workshops, book, ebook and online course, I share the techniques I have learned through years of pressing flowers, including plenty of things I learned by getting them wrong first.
There is something surprisingly calming about sitting around a table with flowers, slowing down and making something with your hands. I think everyone should press at least one flower in their life.
Outside of the flowers, I am usually dreaming about my next trip and slowly finding my way back to drawing and writing too.
After all these years, I think I am still that fifteen-year-old who just really likes making things.
And if you have a bouquet you would like to keep, a group you would like to gather, or an idea you would like to bring to life, I would love to hear from you.
where it started
A garden in Mauritius.
A practice in Perth.
I have always loved making things with my hands.
When I was fifteen, I started making beaded jewellery and selling it to anyone who would buy it. But I think my love of flowers started even earlier than that.
I grew up watching my mum tend her garden in Mauritius. There were geraniums on the balcony, flowers she had chosen with care, and neighbours who would stop to look. My dad was always gathering us together to take photos whenever something was in bloom.
Looking back, I think some part of me learned quite early to notice these little things, and to want to keep them.
Years later, I discovered a book about oshibana, the Japanese art of creating with pressed flowers, and became completely fascinated by it. I started picking flowers from the garden, experimenting with pressing them and making little pieces for my family.
Then a friend asked if I could preserve her wedding bouquet.
I said yes, even though I had never done anything quite like it before.
Then her friend asked. And slowly, one bouquet became another, and this little thing I had started out of curiosity grew into the work I do today.
A room where
everyone feels
like they belong.
the workshops
"What I love the most about workshops is the connection. The chance to hear someone’s story,
share what I’ve learned and introduce someone to a craft that has given me so much over the years.”
I was not always someone who found it easy to walk into a room where I did not know anyone. I still remember what that feels like, and I think it has shaped the way I teach.
I keep my workshops small, calm and unhurried. I make my way around the table, check in with everyone and give you space to work things out in your own way. There is no expectation that you already know what you are doing.
You just need to come as you are, slow down for a little while and make something with your hands.
And lately, I have been dreaming about what these gatherings could become beyond a traditional workshop. More thoughtful tables, beautiful spaces, collaborations with people I admire, and experiences where the setting and the people around the table feel just as considered as what we are making.
I am still figuring out exactly what that looks like. But I know I want to create more reasons for people to gather, make and connect.
"Joanna's workshop was an absolute delight. Hearing her speak about her flower-pressing process allowed me to truly appreciate the care and passion she pours into her delicate creations."
Phoebe t, workshop attendeeThe most creatively fulfilling chapter I have known.
Still creating.
let’s work together
Still learning, still figuring things out and still curious about where all of this might lead.
I do not have every part of the next chapter mapped out and I think I like it that way. I am making more, drawing again, dreaming up new ways to bring people together and continuing to press a lot of flowers along the way.
If you have made it this far, thank you for being here.
If you have a bouquet you would like me to preserve, want to join me around a workshop table, or have an idea you think we could create together, I would love to hear from you.
I have a feeling we will get along.
As Seen on
