MEET DIANA AND ROBYN OF BARE ROOT FLORA

BRF:  Rarely is a day typical! But in any given week there’s usually a spate of emails and inquiries, design consults and bids, site visits, blogs to read and write, and the like! And most importantly, there are flowers to play with! We are so lucky that working with beautiful living things that smell great and bring people so much joy is a “job requirement.” We also try to grow some of our own flowers, so a fair amount of each day is spent tending the garden! Of course we don’t yield enough to design whole weddings—not even close—but it’s pretty special when an incredible peony or some luscious poppies from the garden give a bouquet that extra something to take it over the top!

BRF:  Honestly? Over-themed, over-styled wedding “productions”—although there’s a lot to love about a theme, we think some events veer off a little into the realm of productions and lose a little authenticity along the way. Sometimes the theme is just love, you know? 

TBC:  Describe your client?

BRF: Our clients are stylish, fun, creative types with an eye for detail. And most importantly, they love flowers as much as we do and can’t imagine their wedding without them! Flowers become part of how they want to express their style and personality. They come to us with ideas but they also encourage (and trust) us to run with those ideas from there!

BRF:  Of course we’re blog readers, but we try to balance wedding blogs with all sorts of other design and style blogs and magazines. All wedding all the time gets to be a little much. And while the blogs are a major source of inspiration, so is the garden. Garden catalogues are a great place to find new and unusual flowers that flower brokers don’t necessarily carry. And if they can’t carry them—we’ll grow them! 

TBC:  Name one of your favorite “vendor” sources that you just can’t do without.

BRF:  The New York flower district, but sadly we have to! We’re really lucky to have great local brokers, though, and local growers too. There’s a nearby shop called Tallulah Jones that’s our go-to spot for amazing ribbon. Love it.

BRF:  We try not to pigeonhole ourselves into just one style—I’d say we’re as at home with an organic, garden look as we are with a high-fashion aesthetic. But I guess if I had to pick just one word to describe our flowers, I’d say lush. 

TBC:  To date, what has been the highlight of your career?

BRF:  Both Diana and I have been in the business for years, but stepping out on our own has taken our creativity and passion to a whole new level. I’d say taking the leap and truly believing we would succeed on our own has really been a huge highlight!

BRF: Three things: First, be part of a flower community—make friends with the people in your industry. In our view, they’re your colleagues, not your competition. They can be a resource, a referral source, and on the inevitable bad days a shoulder to cry on! Second, respect your industry enough to be unwilling to undercut—it hurts all of us, yourself included. If we don’t value our work, why would anyone else? Third, be true to yourself: Don’t just do what everybody else is doing. Do what YOU do best. 

TBC:  Who are a few of your favorite floral designers?

BRF:  Ariella Chezar, Matthew Robbins, Sarah Ryhanen, Sarah Winward, Susan & Darwin at Florali…so many amazing artists out there—if anyone ever doubts that florals are art, they should look to these folks.

BRF: We laugh a lot and try to keep things fun and casual. We specifically avoid taking on more than the two of us (and occasionally a few designer friends) can handle—the last thing we want is to feel like a flower factory and have to rush through our designs in the name of high production volume. Not only do we want to be able to laugh and chat while we design, we really want to give the flowers the attention they deserve so that we can be proud of the art we make.

BRF:  For me, this WAS the career change! I worked in editing & publishing for many years and stepping away from the computer was the best move I ever made! I suppose if I ever needed to change careers again, I’d go knocking on the door at Martha Stewart Weddings so I could combine my editorial skills with my love of flower design and weddings! 

BRF:  I feel like I’m finally coming into my own when it comes to my personal style—I like to think of it as “creative disheveled!” I shop at Anthropologie for inspiration, but most of my purchases come from antique fairs and flea markets. I love vintage—I have a great vintage coat collection and they all come from antique shops.

BRF:  Tea! Wait, is chocolate one of the choices?

TBC:  Do you prefer blogs or magazines?

BRF:  We read the blogs every day for work. But there is nothing like settling down with a good magazine.

TBC:  Do you prefer Grey or a pop of Color?

BRF:   Color!!!