Custom Artificial Olive Tree Designed for a Landmark Automotive Showroom!
When Public School Studio approached Make Be-Leaves to create an artificial centerpiece tree for the new Mercedes-Benz showroom in Beverly Hills, the request called for much more than a large decorative tree.
The vision was a custom Mediterranean Olive Tree standing 19 feet tall, with a canopy extending approximately 15 feet across. It needed to bring natural warmth and scale into a polished luxury showroom while fitting precisely within a highly designed architectural environment.
The finished artificial tree would serve as a major visual anchor within the space, positioned among sculptural seating areas, showroom displays, lighting, and vehicles. Every part of the design had to feel intentional.
Designing Around the Architecture
Large artificial trees are rarely created in isolation. They must respond to the space around them.
In this showroom, rows of low-hanging ceiling lights created one of the project’s most important constraints. The canopy needed to retain the balanced, irregular form of a mature Mediterranean olive tree without branches interfering with the fixtures above.
That meant carefully planning the overall height, spread, branch direction, sightlines, and density before installation began. The tree needed sufficient presence to fill the showroom vertically, but it could not overwhelm the architecture or obstruct the space’s visual flow.
The final silhouette was developed to feel organic from every major viewing angle, whether seen from the showroom floor, adjacent seating areas, or across the vehicle displays.
Solving the Access Challenge
The completed tree was far larger than the showroom entrance. It could not simply be built elsewhere and carried in as a single finished piece.
To enable the installation, the Make Be-Leaves team engineered the tree as a modular system. The tree was first constructed and evaluated in the shop, then designed so the outer trunks and major components could be separated for transport and reassembled on site.
This modular approach allowed the team to preserve the appearance of a naturally formed, multi-trunk olive tree while addressing the practical limitations of delivery, access, weight, and final placement.
The engineering remained largely invisible once the work was complete. That is the goal with a successful custom installation: the structure performs its job while the viewer sees only the finished tree.
Design & Build of a Life-like Mediterranean Olive Tree
Scale alone does not make a convincing artificial tree. Realism comes from proportion, variation, texture, and the relationship between the trunk and canopy.
The multi-trunk composition was selected and arranged to suggest the irregular growth of an established olive tree. Branches were positioned to create natural movement rather than a perfectly symmetrical outline. Foliage was layered to produce depth, allowing light to pass through portions of the canopy while maintaining enough density to give the tree visual substance.
Close attention was also given to the bark, branching structure, leaf direction, and distribution of olive fruit. These details help the tree remain believable at both architectural distance and close range.
Because the showroom is experienced from multiple directions, the tree could not have a single finished “front.” It needed to look resolved from every side.
On-Site Assembly and Fine-Tuning
Once the components arrived in Beverly Hills, the tree was reconstructed in its permanent location inside the showroom.
The installation team positioned the central structure, installed the additional trunks, secured the components, and worked upward through the canopy. Branch placement was continually adjusted in relation to the ceiling lights, walls, showroom displays, and surrounding furniture.
This stage required both technical coordination and visual judgment. A branch that looked correct from one angle could affect the balance from another, so the canopy was refined throughout the installation.
The surrounding planter was then completed with a natural-looking moss surface, helping the base feel integrated into the interior rather than simply concealing the underlying support system.
The Finished Showroom Centerpiece Complement
The completed 19-foot Olive Tree now brings softness and organic character into a refined commercial setting dominated by hard surfaces, precise lighting, glass, metal, and automotive forms.
Its scale allows it to hold its own against the showroom’s height and volume, while the layered canopy and branching create a more relaxed visual counterpoint to the architecture.
The final result feels as though the showroom was designed around the tree, even though the tree itself was carefully engineered around the showroom.
This project reflects the kind of work Make Be-Leaves specializes in: custom artificial trees created for specific architectural spaces, with design, fabrication, transportation, and installation treated as a single, integrated process.
“Projects like this are what we enjoy most—solving complex design challenges through creativity, engineering, and craftsmanship to bring an ambitious concept to life.”— Susie Ameche, Make Be-Leaves
Custom Artificial Trees for Commercial Interiors
Custom Artificial Trees for Commercial InteriorsOur large commercially rated artificial trees can create a strong sense of place in showrooms, hotels, restaurants, retail spaces, entertainment environments, offices, and other commercial interiors.
Unlike a standard decorative product, a custom tree can be designed around exact ceiling heights, planter dimensions, traffic patterns, lighting conditions, sightlines, and access limitations.
Make Be-Leaves creates artificial trees, plants, and botanical installations for designers, architects, contractors, brands, and commercial property teams. Each design project is tailored to the space, from the overall silhouette to the final foliage placement.
To discuss a custom artificial tree or commercial faux botanical installation, contact Make Be-Leaves.
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