OCTOBER’s Issue No. 27 of Slow Flowers Journal brings you inside the pages of Florists’ Review!
We have a beautiful issue shining a light on the creativity of several Slow Flowers members, as well as an exclusive Q&A with Ariella Chezar, author of the new design book, “Seasonal Floral Arranging.”
I’m delighted to share these features with you, as I believe each one will inspire and enlight you along a personal journey to engage with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers.
Here’s a sneak peek of our feature articles:
BROOKLYN BLOOMS LOCAL
Molly Culver’s floral aesthetic is deeply rooted in her background as a food and flower farmer, agricultural educator and sustainability advocate. Her style is nature-inspired, wild and romantic. “I want my designs to feel natural and un-tethered and just easy and loose, but also elegant,” Culver says. She is as motivated by the urge to create beautiful floral designs as she is by a commitment to sustainability.
“The driving force for me in the beginning was to have a business that makes as small a footprint as possible. But I also strive to understand my craft and what I’m drawn to design, because I’m selecting the flowers that work best with my aesthetic.”
After eight years jugging two equally-demanding roles, as both the manager of the one-acre Youth Farm in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and owner of Molly Oliver Flowers, a wedding and event studio, she has for 2019 shifted her full attention to floral design.
A MOODY TALE
Photography by Kestrel Bailey
In search of a creative antidote after a long summer of pastel weddings, photographer Kestrel Bailey and floral designer Erin Shackelford collaborated on a styled photo shoot with a darker plot.
Both are based in the Pacific Northwest’s San Juan Islands, where the weather and water are a constant influence, be they grey or sparkling blue; stormy or calm. And since both belong to a small cohort of vendors who serve San Juan Islands destination weddings, it was natural that flowers by Camas Designs, Shackelford’s studio based in Friday Harbor, had previously appeared at weddings photographed by Bailey.
Last fall, Bailey reached out to Shackelford and invited her to join “a photo shoot that’s a little different,” the florist recalls. “She told me it would be a moody project and added, ‘the model has yellow hair and she’s going to be wearing a black wedding dress.'”
SUBLIME AND SEASONAL
Photography by Erin Kunkel
Ariella Chezar’s bestselling title The Flower Workshop (Ten Speed Press, 2016) reveals her lush, whimsical garden style and her true passion for flowers, both cultivated and wild.
Its popularity created demand for more floral inspiration, and earlier this year the iconic designer treated us to a new design resource. Chezar again teamed with Bay Area photographer Erin Kunkel and writing collaborator Julie Michaels to publish Seasonal Floral Arranging (Ten Speed Press, 2019).
Chezar’s medium is ephemeral and her art expresses both effortless style and deep emotion. She encourages readers to fill their homes with blooms, branches and foraged material all year round. The beautifully photographed book explores Chezar’s insights on color theory, sourcing and growing, and foam-free mechanics for each of 39 seasonal floral designs.
I recently caught up with Ariella Chezar to talk about her new book, and her publisher has graciously shared some of the designer’s autumn-themed pieces from its pages.
READ: Slow Flowers Journal – Issue No. 27
