I have never appreciated flowers in vases. As pretty as they look on their first day is as demolished as they appear and smell on their third day. Oh, if I take the time to trim the stems and change the water daily, as if that’s all I have to do, it will extend their life to a week, maybe even ten days if I’m lucky? What a bother. Why not just use potted plants? And hello! Have you seen the film Maria Full of Grace that exposes egregious sweatshop working conditions of the pesticide-saturated flower industry? That movie officially wiped away any power that flowers had over me that’s for sure. I became morally against bouquets and all that they represented.
Then at our friend’s store Individual Medley, I stumbled upon Yasmine having a pop-up there. I have a heart. Of course I melted seeing her pretty arrangements scattered about, their whimsical textures beseeching my attention, seducing all of my senses, luring me in despite myself and any of my aforementioned opinions. I had never seen anything like them, nothing was forced or pretentious or contrived. Then upon closer inspection, completely counterintuitive to me at least, I was so delighted, giddy in fact, to observe that she incorporated food items in each of her arrangements!
Mushrooms, kale, cabbage, arugula, herbs, citrus, what?? Okay, now this was a florist I needed to connect with. She used flowers of course too, but they were kept to a minimum and they were all seasonal and locally sourced she explained.
Turns out she felt the same way I did and her philosophies led her to gather most of her pretties not only from her family’s yard but also from fields off the highway and farmer’s markets.
She came by The Salon for Family Meal after I had asked her to do florals for a dinner we were hosting here for Warby Parker. I thought we needed more than my usual planted succulents for the fashionable girls who would be coming here to try on glasses and mingle and eat. She asked to see the menu for the event so she could use it as a reference. Excuse me? See the menu to use as a reference? Where have you been all of my life, Yasmine, is what I was thinking, but she was more practical. “Is there anywhere around here that you’ve been seeing a lot of citrus growing?” she inquired.
“There are a ton of neighbors with pregnant trees,” I shrilled, so excited that she came up with an idea like that. It’s as if our neighborhood was opposed to consuming vitamin C. Fruit fell all over yards, unused, uneaten, and now it was going to be decoratively placed in vessels around The Salon. Amazing.
She showed up the day of the Warby Parker Dinner with a huge array of beauties. It was so much fun to watch her work, she’s so instinctive and delicate about how she places each piece. It’s as if she was thoughtfully painting a watercolor.
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| Photos: Jennifer Emerling |
Want to get in on this action? She does pop-ups, making arrangements on-site, always with a theme, always with conscious every other Sunday at Individual Medley in Atwater Village where you will find gifts for everyone, especially yourself.
PS: our next public dinner in The Salon will be with Individual Medley, stay tuned! We’ll announce it on Twitter and Instagram.
Yasmine Floral Design
email: yasminefloraldesign@gmail.com
phone: 949 233 9515
