White, Gold and Violet

I spent Sunday in our sun drenched studio working on variations of this arrangement to photograph for Traditional Home Magazine. Features Editor Doris Athineos with her impeccable taste sent over a Seguso Sommerso vase which was an atypical choice for me but in the end a fun assignment. I would not have normally paired this type of loose Spring garden-style arrangement with such a modern vase but the result is both modern and romantic.

Thanks Trad Home for the shout out! I hope we can do more of these together!

Leaves FALL

Leaves are covering the ground as the explosion of color makes way for hard silhouettes of branches preparing us mentally for the winter ahead. This week has been warm and sunny and I savor every minute. Above is one of the last fall arrangements coming from this studio. Winter wonderland weddings are taking over. It's a week filled with crystals and branches. Production for the base materials for many December weddings is filling my time and space. Think Dr Zhivago meets a true life ice storm. More about this soon.

Applied Arts

I'm so 3008.....

Bride with Black Calla Lilies
2007

Black Beauty Roses, Ranunculus, Cymbidiums, Lady Slippers, Scabbiossas and their Pods, Begonia Leaves, Majolica Spray Roses, and Lotus Pods
2007

......I like that boom boom pow
Them chicks is jackin my style
They try to copy my swagger
I’m on that next shit now
Im so 3008
Your so 2000 and late
I got that boom boom boom
That future boom boom boom.....
......Fergie(Black-Eyed Peas)

This made me laugh when I came across these old pics in 2007 when calla lilies were all that every bride wanted in their bouquet and I thought about Black Eyed Peas song but of course remembered the self deprecating version of the lyrics in my head and not the real lyrics above. All I remembered was,

You're so 2008.... I'm so 2000 and late.

Actually I think the photos still hold up despite their age so maybe not so late after all :)

Icicle Night Flights

I was walking by the brownstone next door last night and saw such beautiful reflections coming from icicles that I had to try to get a shot with my iphone. Unfortunately the photo above doesn't do the sighting justice and today it simply wasn't the same. It got me thinking about the beauty and transience of the icicle and how winter delivers these fleeting gems like gifts for dealing with the biting wind and dark days that make you want to stay in your flannels all day. So I went to the studio determined to conquer the contrived concept of the crystally/sparkly bouquet! Can the beauty of winter actually be invoked in a bouquet through campy gimmicks! Ha! and these are my daily challenges? what has life come to? But hey! I AM a florist so allow me to digress. I tore through my art supplies and floral knickknack tins and found crystals, opalescent paint pigments, faux juniper berries and commenced to spray and hot glue myself into a frenzy, coating stems of eucalyptus into shimmery snow-like and crystallized versions of their former selves. Ok, I have to admit it was fun and I was kind of tickled by the results so in they went with the Ranunculus, Angel Winged Begonia leaves and Dusty Miller. I may expand upon this idea.... I may not. After all sparkles have never been my forte but I secretly love this "Winter Garden Bouquet" then again it may simply be a case of falling in love with an idea. That's ok too.

Feathers of a Protea

Once upon a time I was working on the flowers for a corporate job with my fellow friend and flower nerd goddess Cornelia McNamarra and we had decided to create floating arrangements making all sorts of submerged floaters(future post). We deconstructed artichokes and sunflowers and queen proteas to construct these "rafts" to float small arrangements. Suddenly I looked over her way to the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and never thought of doing! Cornelia was making these little feather florets from the protea petals! It was as I like to say, lightning in a bottle. Hence was born the protea petal "feather"!

Here are some samples of later day appropriations for her genius idea!