From Floor To Floating Flora
Sometimes I get a little lost in my mind where several ideas begin to orbit, and their connections only becomes clear as I start the physical creative process. Do you ever just let yourself go when working on something? Do you get in the zone? I sure did on this project.
While I have been playing with edible floral charcuterie for a few years, the catalyst came down to what must be referred to as a magic carpet. It took me on a wild, florally ride that resulted in beautiful bites and a dreamy atmosphere.
While building out the Warmhouse Story Inspirational Parlor, my friend and trusted advisor, Martha McQuade, was always around with ideas that would push me to dive deeper or test my own assumptions about my aesthetic. This ranged from how I would lay out the space down to some of the specific design elements. This resulted in healthy debate- which is what I love in the world of design. One element that needed no debate was the rug featured in this story. It is a Rifle Paper Co. looped rug sold at several online retailers.
When Martha showed me the rug, I thought it would be perfect for Spring and Summer seasons in the parlor and I plan to use it for many years to come. It is moody. It has a great range of colors. It has a modern art sensibility, but it reads like a classic rug in the context of the room. It also served as the inspiration for everything else on this table and above.
I’ll share more on the tastiest part later, but let’s go from the bottom up to the top- the floral installation. I wanted to represent all the flora in the rug up in the floral cloud. I grabbed bundles of dried blooming contenders and sat on the floor making selections. Peonies. Caspia. Bay Leaves. Nerifolia. Strawflowers. So many diverse flowers thriving together. The soul of Warmhouse Story. It was nutty how many flowers I had on hand in the exact colors and shapes of the carpet. It was a woo woo moment for sure. Those moments happen to me a lot and now I just embrace them. I even brought in an intuitive friend of mine, Jasmine, to provide her observations and assistance. It can be hard to be working up close on a cloud and then stepping back to look at the composition. We did land on a great foundation.
From that point on, I was working simultaneously on all the details of the full concept. Thoughts on food. Thoughts on live and dried edible flowers. Flavor pairings. Historic elements. Wild influences. Eventually, a Victoria Crowned Pigeon entered from stage left. It was invigorating. I would find myself enjoying early morning tea as I added and edited to the full concept until it was ready for the final details before the shoot.
I hope that you find the finished piece to be curious and captivating. It was a true highlight of my summer season of creativity. I hope it inspired you to try some of the techniques in play here. Enjoy “Take Time to Stop and Eat the Flowers” from floor to floating flora!
Happy Summer!
