Photograph by Don Freeman for LMD

Can you believe that we are already into the month of June? It’s going to be an amazing summer, and I want to wish you all a season full of juicy heirloom tomatoes, hot afternoons on the beach, chilled bottles of rose and armloads of summer blossoms.

It’s been a busy spring and we have a lot of irons in the fire for the next several months. I will keep you posted as time allows. In the meantime, here is a photograph for your enjoyment from a recent shoot we did here in the studio. Luscious coral peonies combined with garden fuchsia and strawberry vines – a kick off to a wonderful season!

xx Lewis

]]> http://www.lmdfloral.com/blog/2010/06/its-summer/feed/ 2 http://www.lmdfloral.com/blog/2010/03/limited-edition/ http://www.lmdfloral.com/blog/2010/03/limited-edition/#comments Sun, 28 Mar 2010 12:39:57 +0000 LM http://www.lmdfloral.com/blog/?p=746

The new decade started off with a tremendous bang, and one of our first projects of  the year was a corporate dinner for  Bloomberg L.P. Collaborating with the unequivocal Elizabeth Allen, this was the second time that this particular event was being held, hosted by the CEO for the top dogs of the corporation. This year it was at the New York Public Library – I will admit – my favorite space in the city.

I wanted to create an environment that was warm and inviting, while simultaneously modern, crisp, overgrown, moody…bold! Working with my friend Richard Tatum from L&M Sound and Light, lighting was a crucial element to the design. And as with any well designed event, it was essential that there be visual layers – from strong, grand statements (which I love) to the smallest detail.  You cannot have one without the other.

Guests walked up the exterior stairs which were defined by a militant swath of glass tubes encasing candles. Dramatic and precise, this led them into Astor Hall (reverberating with a goose-bump inducing mix of Lascia Ch’io Pianga) which was entirely dark except for a giant floral display of atlas cedar, white blooming quince and a huge antique Indian cauldron with paperwhites sprouting from a nest of lichen covered branches and wild green smilax vine.

The stairs that led to cocktail hour on the second floor were lit only by candlelight. Cocktail hour in McGraw Rotunda was simply decorated with clean, modern tables used in tandem with blue velvet upholstered ottomans and large, wild-yet-structured floral arrangements. Dinner was held in the Solomon Gallery, a beautiful space with walls lined with gorgeous historical New York paintings. Two 100′ long rows of tables were dressed in deep blue with wide burnished gold runners and black crackle ballroom chairs with navy velvet cushions. Running the length of the tables, a modern assortment of vessels and candles were overgrown with wild smilax vines: white tulips and anemones in smokey oblong glass, clipped boxwood hedges, copper trays lined with narcissus shoots and lichen covered branches and troughs of white primula malacoides. It was a good blend of crisp and modern, wild and luxe.

During dinner, Astor Hall was quickly turned into a space for dancing and desserts, complete with a pair of dessert stations (all sweets were white and gold), a long bar and several lounge spaces. Keeping things moody and dramatic, the entire hall was saturated in deep blue light and guests danced to the spins of DJ David Chang. It was a great event for a “school night” – a corporate event that felt anything but – and apparently the talk of the office the next day. You can’t beat that.

Elizabeth K. Allen Event Planning (212) 289 – 4931

L&M Sound and Light www.lmsound.com (718) 720-1217

DJ David Chang (212) 509 – 8919

]]> http://www.lmdfloral.com/blog/2010/03/limited-edition/feed/ 11 http://www.lmdfloral.com/blog/2010/02/the-winter-blues/ http://www.lmdfloral.com/blog/2010/02/the-winter-blues/#comments Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:22:41 +0000 LM http://www.lmdfloral.com/blog/?p=667

Several weeks ago event planner Sofia Crokos invited me to be a part of a little cocktail party she was spear-heading. Sofia is the harbinger of all things trendy, and this soiree was a cumulation of industry professionals bringing their individual talents and products under one roof for an evening of inspiration. The idea was to create an environment that would provide ideas in a relaxed, lounge-type setting without coming across as a “wedding showcase”.

The location was the Glass Houses in New York’s Chelsea art district. A modern venue overlooking the Hudson River, the Glass Houses is  a fabulous space for intimate gatherings. Let me rephrase that – it is a fabulous space for medium size events, while giving the feeling of an intimate gathering. The views are killer, the place is perennially spotless and the layout is a designer’s dream. (Do you remember that reality interior show several years ago where the decorators were given a three-sided white box with which they had to create a room? Same idea here, except you have the benefit of floor-to-ceiling windows with a panoramic view of Manhattan’s west side.)

Immediately I rang my friend Jill at Greenroom and she graciously let me have the pick of her beautiful furniture. These days it seems that weddings are more about the lounge than the altar and Greenroom has a great selection of furniture and accessories for rent. Working in a crisp pallet of whites and turquoise, I chose from a nice selection of clean, simple pieces as well as the more artful and whimsical. I had about 4 days to pull this look together (on a dime) – so I raided the LMD prop room for unusual objects, lanterns, artifacts and elements to style the space along with fresh floral accents. We built a gorgeous, oversized folding screen which was upholstered in broad horizontal stripes of turquoise linen and silk, suspended parchment Chinese lanterns, hauled in chunky minerals and rock crystals, Belgian glass “antler” hurricane lamps, and my new favorite prop – a pair of navy blue glazed Chinese terra cotta horses which anchored the bar (and aptly named Gigondas and Meursault).

With tasty nibbles by Diane Gordon catering, sounds by Julie Feldman at Orchestrations, Inc. and libations compliments of Moet Hennessy, it was a fun event for a chilly Tuesday evening in January. And a very, very special “Thank You!” to Abby Ross for these gorgeous photographs. (P.S. I encourage you to click the photographs twice so that you can view them large and really appreciate how beautiful they are.)

The Glass House / www.theglasshouses.com

Sofia Crokos Events / www.sofiacrokos.com

Greenroom  / www.yourgreenroom.com

Abby Ross Photography  /  www.abbyross.com

Diane Gordon Catering /  www.dianegordoncatering.com

Orchestrations Inc. / www.orchestrationsinc.com

Romy came to us with a subversive theme (and I do love subversive themes) based on the whimsical and slightly dark drawings of Edward Gorey and Elephant House. The ceremony was in the middle of the lush vineyards of  Wolffer Estates in Sagaponack, Long Island and the reception at the bride’s parent’s home a short walk away.

The ceremony was pure perfection in it’s absolute simplicity. Surrounded by rows of verdant vines, the chuppah was as simple as it could possibly be without being air itself. My theory is that chuppahs are like Christmas trees – everybody thinks theirs is amazing, but sniffs at all others. I think it is simply because these are such personal things and, astethically speaking, one really puts themselves on the line. At any rate, four birch poles set in crusty Belgian terra-cotta with a friend’s beautifully embroidered Taleth accented with olive wreaths and muslin ribbons did the trick. Anchoring the structure was a pair of heavy iron urns – slightly gothic with putti and ram’s heads – and massed with airy white Queen Anne’s lace.

Cocktails on the terrace and lawn of the winery was followed by a beautiful tented reception in the back yard of Romy’s parents home. If you are not familiar with Sperry Tents, you should be – they are hand-crafted loveliness. Long dinner tables dressed in oatmeal linen were layered with estate silver candlesticks with grey, black and black and white stripe taper candles, silver vessels of baby’s tears and fernery, compotes of roses, passion flower and wild grasses with Chinese parchment and chicken-wire lanterns suspended overhead…and Olivier Cheng’s ever beautiful, delicious food (and waitstaff) didn’t hurt either.

Of couse, apropo to all weddings this summer – come nightfall the sky let loose and it rained cats and dogs. And, apropo to all great parties with a fun-loving crowd, a gracious host and proper planning…a good time was had by all!

A special thank you to Timothy Lee and Lydia Lee of Timothy Lee Photography for the beautiful photographs. www.timothylee.com (718). 482.8344

David Reinhard Events, LLC www.davidreinhard.com

Olivier Cheng Catering www. ocny.com

Sperry Tents www.sperrytents.com

Matt Murphy Event Lighting www.mattmurphyeventlighting.com

I have always wanted a hotel account and much to my delight, Firmdale Hotels came knocking. Firmdale is a British boutique hotel group owned by Tim and Kit Kemp with six posh properties throughout London and a sparkling new building in New York – the Crosby Street Hotel. We started working with them earlier this spring by providing flowers for various photo shoots which parlayed into a gorgeous new floral account for LMD.

I don’t really know how to describe this experience without developing a silly grin on my face, but I LOVE this place, and I could not be more thrilled to be a small part of it. Folks, in my humble opinion, it is a blast of fresh air to the Manhattan hotel scene. Colorful and cheerful, patterns and prints, antique trestle tables next to modern art – it’s how you want to live…or at least what you wish you could go home to for the holidays. As are all the Firmdale Hotels, it is decorated by Mrs Kemp herself – and each room is different, each room is fabulous with it’s papered walls, upholstered head-board, floor-to-ceiling windows…

The lobby has various floral installations – from the antique garden etagere in the foyer (currently stacked with fragrant blooming clementine trees in crusty terra-cotta tom pots, green cypress, paper whites and piles of giant sugar pine cones) to a large driftwood bench that gets various plants, branches and vines swapped out on a weekly basis. We created terrariums for the suites as an alternative to the obligatory orchid plant, and all of the suites get fresh flowers delivered twice a week with an emphasis on seasonal and local blooms. There is no flower snobbery here. In fact, the only rules are “no tropicals” and the more natural, organic, wild, unusual, straight-from-the-field-ditch the better.

It’s a tremendously cozy place on a chilly evening, so stop by, be inspired and have a drink or dinner at the beautiful Crosby Bar.

The Crosby Street Hotel   79 Crosby Street NYC 10012   www.firmdale.com

Several days before an event, I am often presented with a large bag of stuff from the neighborhood Duane Reade with the instructions to “…make pretty and display on a tray.” I see this stuff and it’s obvious that somebody has had a hay-day in the drugstore. Unless your friends are coming from a Bowery flophouse, there is no need to junk up the counter with every travel size toiletry from mouth wash to Mucinex. In the spirit of anticipating your guest’s needs and being a gracious host, there are a few essentials:

• A good candle. Not too sweet, not too pungent, and absolutely nothing that smells like baked goods. Splurge on an expensive candle – these days nice candles are as readily available as bottled water. I find that citrus or smoky floral scents are usually the best – crisp, clean and refreshing. Several of my personal favorites are Odalisque by Cire Trudon, Fleur d’Oranger by Minsenzir and Baies by Diptyque.
• A bottle of fragrance is nice for a quick spritz. Nothing perfumy or heavy – only something light that will fade away in a few minutes. Santa Maria Novella Carnation, Eau Chic by Astier de Villatte or the inexpensive and perennial favorite, 4711.
• Armenian papers. Brilliant! If somebody really has to do something unfortunate, these little bits of smoldering paper will wipe out the evidence. And of course a big box of matches.
• Good hand lotion. I don’t use hand lotion so I have no suggestions here other than to make sure it is in a beautiful pump style bottle and smells clean or not at all.
• A bottle of aspirin or better yet individual packets.
• A bowl of individually wrapped breath mints. Easy to grab, one for now another for later.
• Heavy paper hand towels and plenty of them.
• Beautiful flowers – sweet violets, jasmine, peonies, Mexican tuberose, bundles of tulips…
• Nice hand soap.  Go for some old-fashioned favorites with delicious smells like Roger & Gallet Citron or Penhaligons Quercus (latin for oak). Both lines have elegant, old-world packaging.

Now I realize there are other items that may be necessary for the women’s room however I don’t think Q-Tips or mouthwash are one of them. Sewing kits, nail polish, deodorant, nail files, dentil floss, pantyhose, lint rollers…please folks, why not teeth whitening strips and a curling iron? Give a stash of any or all of these products to the coat check attendant so if they become necessary at least they are on the premise. An amenity tray should be an elegant moment (in a usually banal bathroom) stacked with a few luxuries to personalize the space as if it were your own home. A few necessities that – like the rest of the decor – should be beautiful and special.

Today has been one of those cold, wet days where winter is trying to bully out autumn and summer is a distant memory. While I love fall and nothing satisfies me like a bale of bronze oak branches and a mound of grey heirloom pumpkins, I have been missing heat, sunshine and summer’s abundant blooms. In between the duties of the day, I scrolled through my iphoto library looking for a gentle reminder of the not-so-distant season. I came across some quick snapshots of a wedding we designed at Bedell Vineyards on the north fork of Long Island the last weekend of August.

For this project we pulled from an attractive color palate of mauve, aubergine and lilac with heavy emphasis on herbs and garden flowers – black basil, dahlias, coleus, hydrangea and peppermint. Several styles of low centerpieces allowed for interest yet maintained a sense of continuity. Crisp oyster silk cloths with wide raw linen borders were the perfect foil to the abundant floral arrangements. The ceiling was covered with dozens of handsome wooden carriage lanterns with thick pillar candles, bathing the dinner hour in warm, flattering light.

Granted, there happened to be a hurricane warning that day with torrential rainfall, the ceremony locations was moved three times and the cocktail hour twice. But the couple was fantastic and enjoying every moment, the guests were gorgeous and the champagne flowed freely, so a merry time was had by all.

It was an overcast morning as we peddled through the town of Vernon out to the estate on a pair of rickety rental bicycles. After the initial surprise of how small it was (Isn’t that always the case? Like seeing a celebrity on the street.), we locked up the bikes, cut though the crowds and made our way into the gardens.

It was a really lovely experience. There is something about a garden in the last stages of summer/early autumn that I love. Something that is sort of busted and broken but still insanely beautiful that makes me feel good – a garden giving it’s last hurrah before the impending frost. Everything was a colorful mismash, but because of the scale of the plants and the way they towered over one’s head, it exuded a sense of confidence and power – not in any way fussy or indecisive. The water lily pond was sensational. Maybe it was knowing that I was in Monet’s garden, maybe it was having seen those water lily paintings a thousand times – whatever it was, every willow leaf and water ripple seemed like a brush stroke. It was nice.

The house was pretty great too. No surprise, he had a way with color. The walls were all lush, saturated shades, be it stamen yellow or spring sky blue. Picture taking was a no-no, so I have nothing to show you. But no matter, the gardens were the best part. Enjoy!

“LMD. The flower studio between First and A. The double gray doors. The sign is really small.”

This is part of a conversation one us has on a daily basis when placing a food order delivery, explaining our location to a messenger service or directing a fashion intern who is dropping off a hand-written gift card to accompany a floral arrangement. And we will happily do it every day for the next 10 years, because it’s good to be home.

Welcome to our new studio! After 7 years at our old location (two doors west) – we got to the point where we  had simply outgrown our shop and after a quick search, located a raw but large space conveniently located next door, signed a lease and began construction. And then the bottom dropped out of the economy. LOL! Could the timing have been better? Well, yes, actually….do you really think I’m blogging for the fun of it? All kidding aside, I do have to admit that it is nice to come to work in the morning. It’s a simple space – kept open and industrial with a few pretty touches thrown in to make the work day sweeter. We are still finishing up the details and the back garden has yet to be addressed, but that will all work itself out in time.

Here are a few shots of the main level of the studio.  The full basement (not pictured) is the genius part of the space: construction shop, accounting offices, and rows and rows of shelves lined with props and inventory all perfectly organized and catalogued by my Brazilian Superman, Jorge.

Who would have thought that I would be blogging? I have never been able to keep a journal. It is a warm and misty idea that to date has not worked for me. My hand would get a cramp and then it would be over. My handwriting, starting out perfect, by the end of the page would have rendered itself into something similar to chicken tracks making a slow crawl downhill, being instant death to the romantic notion of recording one’s thoughts. Because if it didn’t look good, who cared? Certainly not I, and I was the only one who was going to be reading it, so that settled it.

But here I am – blogging. There is no hand writing involved, and I am not the only one reading it. It’s kind of scary, like telling everybody you’re going to go on a diet and hoping you don’t get caught with a stack of cookies. And I don’t really like the word. It sounds like something you would do with your nose. (“He has a terrible cold and was up all night blogging.”) Most frightening of all, it ultimately ends up being about content – a thought that chills my blood, for I suspect that every word I deem so important will soon seem like just another blast of hot air into cyberspace. Maybe blogging is the cause of global warming.

At any rate, I have to get this started, so here it goes:

I am typing this from an apartment rental in Paris. I am here with my friend, event planner Elizabeth Allen, laying the ground work for an upcoming project. Due to the nature of the party, that’s all I can say for the moment.

While Paris is lovely, this time it’s hard for me to get motivated. My mood is a bit off due to recent trials and tribulations of running a business in New York, a particularly astrologically horrific September and having just been here for Maison-Objet a few weeks earlier. The October Parisian weather is that strange combination of muggy one second, chilly the next, and I want to take everything I packed and throw it into the middle of the street. And of course it’s fashion week so the peacocks and gazelles are out in full force, and to top it off, I screwed up my foot during my morning run through the Jardin du Luxembourg. Cry me a river.

After a late start, we finally make it out of the apartment and take a taxi up to a new shop called Merci on Blvd. Beaumarchais. While I am not going to give you the full editorial history of Merci – you can read that in Vogue or Departures – the basic premises is a large, three-floor shop in the upper Marais with wares varying from dishtowels to colored pencils and all profits going to charity.
We did not enter through the main door, but rather through the small flower shop on the street level. While the day may have started out on the wrong note combined with my natural predisposition to being cynical (“another fabulous shop, another must see…will of course be filled with fashion cattle and Americans…blah, blah, blah”), I barely pass through the door and start to smile. The charcoal walls, of course, make me feel right at home (did they know I was coming?) as do the stack of rustic apple crates filled with organic aka wormy apples, armloads of wild grasses, day glo magenta callicarpa berry, dahlias as big as your face and of course, my favorite – lots and lots of garden roses.

Garden roses

My mood instantly changed, we walk through the flower shop and down a small hallway that leads us into an gorgeous industrial space that opens into an amazing retail/gallery experience of furniture, art, garden goods, dishes, candles, men’s and women’s clothing, etc. etc. Colorful, bohemian, industrial, raw, vintage, modern – it is a happy store, and I don’t mean that cloying-Americana-prozacky type of happy. This is a place that validates everything I love about life, inspires me and pushes me further. The courtyard vegetable garden – j’adore! (I assure you there will be future posts on the potager, one of my major loves in life.)

Cafe garden.

Dominique Isserman exhibit

The irregular, mouth-blown vases and glasses – I want them all! The buckets of “country” flowers in the middle of a most sophisticated city (again, all fodder for blogging), the cafe wall lined floor to ceiling with used books, and the trellises woven from branches which have sprouted and are as much living things as the plants they support. I don’t know where to look first! I am a kid in a candy shop.

Table linens

The Used Book Cafe

The "growing" trellises.

In this city of lights, so filled with beauty, glamour and history, this visit it is all falling flat on me – until I walk into this shop. I haven’t felt so uplifted since I first went into the new Dries van Noten boutique several years ago which proved that fashion does not have to be displayed amongst plexiglas and phaelenopsis. To see colors, textures, life and nature used in such a free and democratic way is inspiring and uplifting. It is moments like this, these days seemingly few and far between, that make me want to jump on the plane and go back to work with renewed vigor. And then I know it was a worthwhile trip.

Merci! Merci! Merci! I’m going back tomorrow.

Merci 111 boulevard Beaumarchais 75003 Paris www.merci-merci.com