A Melbourne design label has apologised for creating a series of wooden sculptures that were destined for the top prize-winning garden at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show.

The Northcote-based studio Pop&Scott withdrew the sculptures from the show and subsequently destroyed them following accusations it had copied the designs from sacred Indigenous burial sites.

Pop&Scott's wooden pole sculptures. Credit:Pop&Scott via Instagram

Members of the public who saw Instagram pictures of the sculptures pointed out their similarity to Pukumani poles, or funerary poles, used for traditional ritual ceremonies for the deceased in the Tiwi Islands.

Designers Poppy Lane and Scott Gibson said that upon learning of the connection they removed the sculptures from the exhibit before it opened to the public.