MEET EMILY HOWARD KUDVA OF PHILEANOR

Emily:  I draw inspiration from music, nature itself, and images from my childhood that have managed to stay with me.  I am from small-town North Carolina and used to be a bit of a tomboy, so I grew up roaming the surrounding countryside with my father and sister, but often alone (Mom decided to cut ties with nature when she left the farm at 18!). 

I was foraging before it because a buzzword in the floral industry – persimmons, blackberries, honeysuckle vine; you name it!  As a tomboy, I often rebelled against my mother’s well-coordinated, put-together ideas of how I should dress, but I’m finding today that her aesthetic informs both my personal style and work more and more.  This a woman who wore full-length mink coats in the mildest of North Carolina winters, long red fingernails with no particular place to go, and roller-set her gorgeous, nearly waist-length hair once a week like clockwork.  Unique but never weird, elegant but never conservative, my mother’s personal style is probably my biggest inspiration. 

Emily:  My work tends to reflect how flowers might look left to their own devices in their natural habitat, but with a pulled-together restraint.  I love a highly textural composition, however, I try not to work with more than six or seven different elements in any given arrangement because then I become indecisive, thereby adding minutes to an already time consuming process. 

I’ve also found that using a ton of different materials is more cost-prohibitive than using fewer elements, so I try to keep things as simple as possible notwithstanding my taste and garden-y style.  The colors in my arrangements range from the palest of the pale to the highly saturated.  One time I made a bouquet for a styled shoot with crimson red garden roses.  I was really nervous about it, but couldn’t have been more pleased with the results.  

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

Emily:  The highlight of my career was doing the flowers for my sister’s wedding.  She is one of the most discriminating, particular people I know, and she’s not shy about expressing her distaste, so the pressure was on to make beautiful flowers for her nuptials.  She trusted me completely with her vision, however, and was really happy with how everything turned out.  Needless to say I was incredibly relieved when it was all said and done.               

Emily:  I would tell upcoming floral designers who want to start their own businesses to apprentice with a designer whose work they admire first, then get some experience freelancing or working at a studio or shop that does events.  I would also say to be prepared to market and promote the heck out of your new business, because no one will know you exist if you don’t.  Marketing and promotions cost money, so be prepared to spend it if you want to get the word out about your business. 

The best advice I ever received….  

The best advice I ever received came from one of the designers I apprenticed with, two years ago.  She said if I really wanted to start a floral design business, I should just go for it rather than wait until I thought I knew everything I needed to know.  As I’ve come to realize since then, most new business owners “fake it ‘til they make it” to some degree.  It’s been both daunting and exhilarating starting a business and not always having all the answers, but part of what keeps me interested is being forced to figure things out as I go along.       

Finish this statement: 

I can’t leave home without…..

Lip balm!  I’ve been plagued by chapped lips since I was a child and have been told way too many times by close friends (and, embarrassingly, my husband) that my lips need…help.  And that’s when I DO have lip balm in my bag.  I can only imagine the state of affairs if I left home without it.

I don’t read blogs much anymore.  I prefer magazines these days, more for the written content than the images.  Mags like Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and the Atlantic are my favorites, especially since I can’t seem to concentrate long enough to read novels the way I used to….

Your favorite musical artist….

I get fixated on a different artist every few weeks.  Right now I’m into classic jazz icon Horace Silver (“Nico’s Dream” and “Song for My Father” are my favorites) and Vic Mensa, a newish rapper from Chicago.

I know this is going to sound really boring, but I really love roses.  There are so many different beautiful varieties, and it’s probably the most reliable flower out there.  They hold up really well in the heat and humidity, and are generally quite affordable.  Many “creative” brides turn their noses up at roses for being common or pedestrian, which is understandable since most people have only been exposed to those in the ever ubiquitous Teleflora, FTD or convenience store bouquet.  I’m on a mission to convince discerning brides that roses are a real class act.