Winter at the NYC Flower Market
Even with the impending bitter cold, spring is making its way into our hearts yet again with beautiful tulips, peonies and blooming bulb plants. A late afternoon visit to the flower market on West 28th street between 6th and 7th avenues gave me a chance to escape the noise of the city and take in all the vibrant colors. These miniature daffodils are happy and bright!
I was happy to see one of my favorites even in the dead of winter. These peonies are imported from Chile where they are currently in season.
Winter is a great time to get blooming branches like forsythia, quince and cherry blossoms. When you pass by them at the market they might look like dried up sticks but hammer the ends of the stems and put them in warm water. After a few weeks they will be in full bloom and last such a long time! Check out these blooming quince we found in the market.
Another great spring flower with a subtle scent are sweet peas. They come in vibrant colors and are great for wedding bouquets or in a simple vase.
These kumquat branches and ornithogalum are a great shade of orange and offer a fresh look for arrangements. Kumquats are fun to use all winter and have a citrus fruit hanging from them.
French and parrot tulips covered the market along with fragrant hyacinth. Looks like spring to me!
There are so many more and gorgeous flowers at the NYC flower market, even in winter. Stop downtown and take a look at all the great flowers, plants and things they have to offer!
Get inspired!
2012 Land Rover Evoque Premiere at the Guggenheim
The new Land Rover Evoque made its mark on the Guggenheim this past November as a local dealership hosted an event to show off their newest addition. We were excited to be working with them and helping to design the concept for their space and bring in the decor for the event. When we arrived at the Guggenheim prior to the event we were fascinated by the amazing piece currently on display. The artist, Maurizio Cattelan, is credited with creating some of the most unforgettable images in recent contemporary art. The pieces were suspended from the ceiling in a fashion that provided a unique perspective from each level.
The dealership brought in this amazing metal and wire model sculpture of the new Evoque. The life size work of art looked like it belonged at the Guggenheim as a permanent display piece. Once they got the lighting setup the piece really came to life and set the mood.
During the cocktail hour we kept the arrangements clean and simple using stainless steel cube vases filled with white peonies and folded Thai leaves.
The bar arrangements were housed in large stainless steel cylinder vases filled with curly willow, white peonies, white hydrangea and folded leaves.
We were inspired by the great art and architecture of the Guggenheim when making the pieces for this event. Everything came together perfectly and the event went as smooth as possible. A great venue to enhance with flowers and we were so lucky to be able to experience the great art!
Bridal Guide Magazine January/February 2012
We were excited when asked again by Bridal Guide Magazine to create a winter bouquet for their January/February edition. We decided to embrace the winter blues and create a bouquet of deep purples with touches of blue that created an unexpected winter bouquet.
The bouquet consisted of purple hydrangea, Japanese blue delphinium, purple lisianthus and blue gentiana. The combination of flowers gave the bouquet a very lush and textured look without it being too over powering. The colors speak for themselves and made for a beautiful winter clutch.
Enjoy!
Bridal Guide September/October 2011 – Floral Fantasy
In Bloom New York's Floral Fantasy Store in Bridal Guides September/October 2011 Issue
A tight fuchsia hyacinth bouquet compliments the structured shaped of this romantic gown. The saturated hue of the open hyacinths really adds a beautiful pop of color to an otherwise monochromatic ensemble.
The hand-crafted silk organza florals in this Alyne dress is transformed into reality with the Duchess Garden Rose & Gloriosa Lily Bridal Bouquet.
For the ultra bohemian bride, a clutch of Yves Piaget Garden Roses is a statement in itself.
Enjoy!
PiperLime Fall/Winter 2011 Showroom Installation
Last April was a very busy month of us. On top of the usual weddings & events we created a few showroom installations in New York during market week. One of our favorites was for Piperlime for their Fall/Winter 2011/2012 collection. The inspiration we were given was to go very natural and to use organic elements that evoked the spirit of autumn.
Natural Driftwood & Dried Orange Yarrow Sculpture
We created a large installation comprised solely from a large piece of natural driftwood from California and over a hundred stems of dried orange Yarrow. The color of the driftwood blended naturally against the collection and the vibrant orange became a focal point in the room. This is another great example of using an ordinary flower in mass and making it more special. See Baby's Breath Example here.
Driftwood & dried Mushrooms
To create the same feeling throughout the showroom, we created a few mini sculptures of natural driftwood, dried mushrooms and dried salal leaves. As you can see, the color palette was on point!
Lastly, a wild arrangement of orange Ranunculus arranged in a natural wooden vase to greet each guest!
A Cascading Bridal Bouquet
The recent weddings of the Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlene of Monaco have brought about nostalgia for all things royal, even in floral design. Brides are looking to more romantic flowers such as garden roses and peonies, preferably arranged organically as opposed to more traditionally structured shapes. The return of this trend has reintroduced the free flowing cascading bouquet, which were at its peak of popularity during the 70s & 80s. Undoubtedly, the bouquet Princess Diana held at her wedding to the Prince of Wales in 1981 solidified its modernity and inspired brides around the world.
Princess Di's long and trail bouquet consisted of Gardenias, Stephanotis, Lily of the Valley, Freesia, Ivy and Myrtle which are traditional flowers for the Royal Family.
When Brides Magazine asked us to create a updated cascading bouquet, we looked to it's history for inspiration. We picked a palette of whites, creams, and touches of greens with pops of peachy undertones. Base of the bouquet consists of a tight arrangement of white garden roses, white & peach Ranunculus and white Lisianthus. We created the trailing effect with long stems of flowering jasmine to give the bouquet an unstructured and free shape. The bouquet compliments the romantic Jenny Packham gown and art nouveau feeling of the story.
Cascading Bouquet
A Garden Wedding for a City Bride
One of our favorite sorts of bride is the kind that not only feels open to an interesting design proposal but one that comes to us with a specific concept around which we can design her wedding. That’s why when Lauren came to us with 60 vintage & unique teacups she had been collecting for the year prior to her special day, we wanted to offer a dream design unlike any other in In Bloom history.
Preferring a garden ceremony and reception in a colonial mansion to a city wedding, the bride & groom chose to marry just North of Manhattan at the Round Hill House in Washingtonville, New York.
Given her taste for a romantic & old world wedding, Lauren asked for a primarily white bridal bouquet with pops of green and hints of the most subtle pink out there. We came up with a mix of white freesia, white garden roses, blush ranunculus, and white sweet peas – keeping the stems naturally long.
For the bridesmaid’s bouquets, we simply paired white garden roses and white hydrangeas. For the groom’s boutonniere, we coupled a white ranunculus with sprigs of rosemary. This became the first introduction of herbs later to be seen in the reception table designs.
Pillar candles of varying heights with small groupings of white rose petals marked the aisle for the youngest participant to walk down to the altar.
We decorated the cornice of the birch altar provided by the venue with trailing Spanish moss, spraying dendrobium orchids, light pink & white peonies, and open garden roses.
Pale pink ostrich feathers at each place setting added an interesting element to the two table designs centering around Lauren’s collection of vintage tea cups.
The first design included an antiqued white candelabra with five unique teacups and saucers. Each cup contained a single type of either blush or white peonies, blush or white ranunculus, or white garden roses to keep the design pure.
The fruit bowl table design incorporated green grapes, green apples, brown sugar pears, and touches of white spray roses as well as fresh spearmint in a brushed gold pedestal bowl. Three teacups turned into appropriate candle holders for white tealights.
What a memorable trip outside the city to filfill a dream wedding for Lauren and Jarrod. Congratulations again to you both!
Photo Credits: Growing Tree Photography
-Parker Voss
10th Annual Tulips & Pansies – The Headdress Affair
Last Thursday saw a major spectacle at Gotham Hall for the 10th Annual Tulips and Pansies: The Headdress Affair. Hosted by VillageCare to benefit its network of AIDS services in Manhattan, the runway show showcases the design of 19 floral design companies paired with clothing designers. As a first-time participant armed with Betsey Johnson as our supporting designer, we gladly took the challenge to build something big, beautiful, and beyond.
And thus, a punk-inspired Marie Antoinette was born. 
Our queen captured the electric spirit of Betsey Johnson with the luxe-glam of roses and peonies. The brainstorm process evolved from a peek at the Betsey Johnson S/S 2011 runway collection. Once decided on a custom, spray-painted petticoat dress, we set our imagination on a headpiece fit for an 18th century European court. Additional references included Carnival, La Catrina, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
The pink cabbage roses, peonies and baby's breath that recalled a powdered wig became a veritable garden for 6” silver glitter butterflies. Details below.
While we succeeded in concealing the water tubes necessary to keep the peonies (queen of all flowers) looking their best, our incredible model Stephanie withstood the substantial weight with elegance and grace. Many kudos to her for making the look appear both natural and effortless.
Ultimately, the runway walk – though only lasting a minute – was the shining moment for our design. It’s always enchanting for a designer to witness their work being brought to life. The feeling can be so surreal or unimagined that it becomes easy to forget how such a creation came to be. 
It was a true pleasure working on this project for such a charitable cause, and to see where our minds and flowers could lead us given a little inspiration. Looking forward to next year’s show already… Meanwhile, thanks to VillageCare, Betsey Johson and to Stephanie for stealing the runway!
Photo Credits: Andrew Werner, LINDSEYBELLE
-Parker Voss
Table Design at the New York Weddings Event 2011
Wedding design is a favorite area of interest for us floral & event designers, so our participation in the New York Wedding Event yesterday at the Metropolitan Pavilion became the highlight of a great week. This was our first year participating in the annual bridal show, which showcases the talent of the city’s top florists, caterers, photographers, bridal fashion designers, planners, etc.
The basis of our table design centered around new and vintage tableware, transparent and opaque glass, as well as peach, white & gray color palatte we've been wanting to incorporate into floral design for some time now.
The overall table arrangements featured five types of flowers in peach and white. The three handkerchief glass vases – courtesy of Steuben Glass for In Bloom New York – paired beautifully with the vintage, ruffled milk glass containers. We decided on a pure peach arrangement of long-stemmed French tulips and Juliet garden roses for the central arrangement. The medium-size glass handkerchief vase contained white peonies, sweet peas and lisianthus. To the right, a low milk glass hobnail bowl displayed the perfect marriage of peach sweet peas and Juliet garden roses.
For the place settings, we used clear glass for chargers and also found vintage milk glass plates on top of which we set fragrant gardenias. We loved the wavy transparency of the Venetian stemware, and found additional cohesion by adding the clear & milk glass candlesticks.
Here we are (Roshy Naini and Parker Voss) enjoying our final design before the Pavilion doors opened at 5pm.
We always have such a great experience working with New York Weddings, and are grateful for the many new brides, vendors and friends we met last night!
-Parker Voss
Campari & SKYY Spirits Event at the Empire Hotel Rooftop
Now that a year has passed since Campari’s 150th Anniversary Party at the Bowery Hotel (part 1 part 2), the liquor’s parent company SKYY Spirits came back to us to design another branded party - this time at the Empire Hotel Rooftop. Hosted by SKYY Spirits for Impact Magazine, the industry event welcomed executives for all major spirit companies including Campari’s top management from Milan. Given the in-the-spotlight spirit of the evening, the design called for luxe and very beautiful flowers, so we chose none other than orchids and lilies.
Our front bar arrangements consisted of red lilies with plum cymbidium orchids, red mocara and James Story orchids. Our team styled the bar with cymbidium heads, Campari and SKYY Infusions bottles along with custom menus offering the famed Negroni and Aperol Spritz cocktails.
We carried the cymbidium orchids up to the gold wire lighting fixtures as decoration above the bar. The six balls studded with white cymbidium and lemon leaves exceeded our expectations based on a trial on a single fixture – almost butterfly-like, the dozens of orchids appeared to flutter with the lights on!
The smaller arrangements for the low cocktail tables combined various types of red and golden-hued orchid stems in line with Campari's signature coloring.
The choice of florals worked well in the outdoor terrace whose tropical greenery suits the exotic appeal of orchids & lilies.
For the terrace bar, we kept the same combination of flowers but altered the hues. Here a detail of white lilies, white cymbidium orchids, red mocara and James Story orchids is a great example of how lilies and orchids share complimenting texture and lines.
Overall, we were happy to please the party’s host and surprise the venue itself by the transformation of the space. The success of the design can be attributed to an elegant & consistent visual scheme without over-branding a label familiar to all in attendance. We're always grateful to work along that fine line between the obvious and the unexpected when it comes to flowers.
-Parker Voss
