handmade: it costs more, but it's worth it

As flower designer’s we are familiar with items that are handmade. There is nothing that our client’s receive from us that is not made by our hands. I am not sure if I truly ever thought of our work in that way until I just wrote it. It’s truly amazing if you really think about it.

Every flower was touched by us, every container was hand picked by us. Every single bloom was purposefully chosen for its movement, color, length of stem, texture, line, shape, petal count etc. It’s a process that takes flipping through catalogues, searching scientific names (that I can not seem to ever remember) reaching out to a minimum of 5 different companies and countless websites.

There are days that I fall in love with the process and other days that make me want to quit. It’s not easy and maybe that is why I love it so much. The ordering flower process of our business is one that is never spoken of but probably the most important part of it all.

I look at all handmade items with so much appreciation as I know what it takes to make our own. The dedication and expertise is straight out of one of my all time favorite documentaries Jiro Dreams of Sushi. This documentary highlights Jiro’s life’s work in developing one of the most well known sushi restaurants in the world. All created from dedication, passion and obsession over his trade.

From flowers, to sushi and now to the whole reason I was inspired to write this blog post… this handmade vessel. This one in the image bellow. Abbie from Box Sparrow creates the most gorgeous ceramic pieces and we honor her today with this arrangement. She created this vessel and we have fallen madly deeply in love with it and can only imagine the dedication in selecting all the materials, and the time it took to make this. You would never know a person made this as it has been made with expertise only a machine could replicate.

Can we take a little moment to enjoy all these gorgeous blooms from Mayesh? We are so thankful they dare to bring in material to help us explore with different material. Flowers we incorporated in this highly textured piece are: helleborus, begonia, garden roses, lisianthus, snowberries, carnations, smilax, and blackberry greenery.

marie flanigan interiors- a women on the move

We have been following Marie Flanigan for years and having her team reach out to work on a collaborative project was one of the highlights of 2018.   All the necessary elements were met, girlfriends, flowers, well designed spaces and great food.

I am flattered that we would get a chance to collaborate with someone who is so detailed oriented and designed based.   Two elements of weddings and events that matter so much to me and that lead every element of how we create our designs.

There were some gorgeous Japanese product at that time and we couldn't wait to put it to use.  And one of my all time favorite blooms lilac! Oh my goodness you guys, lilac is just so amazing... and after seeing where it all grows from several years back made my obsession continue.

The space was so perfectly styled and decorated with some fun food details by our pals at Smart in the Kitchen.  And gorgeous calligraphy bits from another gal pal Megan Grant. 

As Houstonian's know so well, we love our summer but we are so glad to see it go.  Before the cooler season arrives we work our way through the storm season, but let me tell you we are so excited that the rain is a very welcome sight! 

the astorian - a traditional houston wedding

The Astorian event venue is a site to behold.  The details are phenomenal and well thought out, the tile, the fixtures, the ceiling lighting, all of it is gorgeous. It's a fun space that we always feel so honored to work in.  

For this event Piper of Piper and Muse brought us this sweet family to work with.  They had one request, tall arrangement.  Showy tall arrangements.  We heard them and we created our version of this request.  Why do I say 'our version'... well we don't create a perfect ball, as things in nature tend to grow in ovals and droop.  Because we try to mimic nature as much as possible, as this is what we believe looks gorgeous, we create our tall arrangements (when requested in this more compact style) in a more oval shape.

The remaining low arrangements had more of our signature look as we are aware that this is what our clients are looking for as well.  Melding both aesthetics is possible and we don't find a need to make it all look the same. Here are some images of this fun one captured perfectly by our friends at The Cotton Collective Photography:

containers- why we keep it simple

We are floral design artist.  We love and are insanely passionate about everything flowers, floristry, wedding flowers, event flowers, flower gardening, flower farmers, etc.   You name it flowers and we have spent time loving it one way or another. 

Containers, well.... still a love affair. But not an obsession. We are always on the look out for new, clean, classic, unique, timeless pieces. And for this reason we have to love it.  It takes time, lots of time researching every vessel we have.  I actually really enjoy the process.

...selecting the correct vessels that will not outshine

the flowers is the number one goal.

And a process it is.  You find a store, or artist that you love and you begin the research.  From a store you have to put in an order to make sure it delivers well, in time and it is what it says it's going to be when it arrives.  This is more like a sample order. One off items of each vessel you love and then the waiting begins.  The item arrives and fingers crossed the company enjoys wrapping their precious pieces in an nauseating amount of paper.

Then we put then to use, does it hold water, not mind our floral tape we have to use and does it allow us to design and create the shapes we enjoy.  Bing it works... awesome let's order lots more.  If it doesn't, small pity party and move on to the next company that will take a small order and start from the beginning.  This process takes so much patience and all the part of the curating process.

Now we haven't event tapped into the artist that creates handmade containers, which we also source from.  This might be the most rewarding and the most difficult.  I won't dive into it too much... but it's similar to the stores but now we are dealing with the artistic element.  So much fun and risky all at the same time. Some artist are local others are from out of the country adding an element of cost for shipping too.  

But all this to say is that we do not sell containers, we sell flowers. Even though we put so much thought into everything we acquire we are still solely focused on making the flowers the prettiest they possibly can be.  And we are super aware that selecting the correct vessels that will not outshine the flowers is the number one goal.

visiting the rose farm- how we keep educated

Several months ago I got invited to work with Tulipina in Ojai creating a wedding at The Ojai Valley Inn.  Once I mentioned that I would be going to Santa Barbara, my gal pal Kelly Hornberger of Kelly Horberger Photography booked her flight and off we were to the races planning a photo shoot and getting all our ducks in a row to fit in as many experiences in as possible.

Not that woking for Kiana at Tulipina wasn't an experience that would have made the trip complete, but California has way too much to offer to pass it up.  And one of those experiences was to visit one of the most prolific producers of the most gorgeous field grown garden roses there is in North America, Grace Rose Farm.  

This might have been the most fun moment of the trip.  To sit back and see fields upon fields of some of the most gorgeous roses there ever was.  All at our finger tips to harvest. And to get a chance to experience this with a couple girlfriends made me the happiest.

We galavanted around the farm choosing which blooms would work best for the projects we had coming up.  Each row made you think of all the gorgeous weddings and events these amazing bushes have produced for.  All the beautiful memories they have produced and how they made such special times even more memorable.

As flower designers we have to keep visiting farmers to connect to the source of our medium.  We use flowers to create the most amazing arrangements and to continue that connection to the people who produce them is so important to me.

We learn something new every time we go and it is just worth seeing the farmers and giving them a hug and letting them know how much they mean to us.  That is important.  They get so disconnected from us as they are insanely hard working people. 

If you ever have questions on how to get connected and start growing a business in the flower community... start from the ground up.  Learn everything there is to learn and NEVER STOP LEARNING.  

The most amazing thing about this industry, is that 13 years later, I still don't even know one percent of what there is to learn.  And for that reason alone I fall in love with the floral industry more and more every year.  The endless information you can gather on one flower alone could consume a life time.  And to think that there are 100's of cut flowers we use on a yearly basis, that just blows my mind.

What an amazing industry to be part of.  Due to the intense amount of hard work to farm and to design flowers, I can promise you that you won't find anyone that isn't madly deeply in love with that they do.  It would be impossible to do with out a maddening love.