Taking a Chance
This week started with the Superbowl (Go Hawks!), and it will end with Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day is essentially one of two Superbowl days for florists each year so it’s fitting that they occur around the same time. Do you know the other biggest day for florists? Hint, it’s in May. While I do want to give a little love to all the hardworking florists out there, on their feet for 8,10,12+ hours each day this week (I’ve been there), I’m not going to write about that today. I want to share a story of another big event that happened exactly four years ago this week.
In February 2022, I was a co-designer for a Fleurs de Villes exhibition. If you don’t know what that is, I didn’t either, until I was a part of it! My family and I were living near Olympia, Washington at the time, and I was working on my floral design classes through the Floral Design Institute (FDI). One day in late January, the director posted on Facebook that an FDI graduate would be stepping in last minute as a designer for a floral exhibition called Fleurs de Villes, which would be part of the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival (one of the biggest horticultural shows in the country) and she needed suggestions on where to get flowers in Seattle. Out of curiosity, I looked up Fleurs de Villes.
Oh. My. God. I’d never seen anything like it. So many flowers! So much creativity! I was instantly enthralled and wondered. “I live close by, could I help? Could I be just a tiny part of that magical floral world?” Despite my inexperience and serious nerves, I messaged the director and very boldly offered to be of assistance. I knew the area, I had a car and a flexible schedule, I knew how to process flowers, mop a floor, etc. and was willing to do anything useful. You never know where you’ll end up if you just put yourself out there. Take a chance, go for it!
Just a few days later, I met Michelle, the florist, and her fiancé Leroy, at the Pacific Place Shopping Center in downtown Seattle. The three of us instantly hit it off and bonded over our excitement for the project. The exhibition’s theme was Rosé to raise awareness for breast cancer, so Michelle wanted to create a warrior queen; strong, beautiful and defiant in the face of adversity. She brought lilies, roses, moss, boxes of huge, fresh banana leaves, and a sword custom cut out of mirror.
Prepping banana leaves to transform them into a flowing Victorian gown.
As soon as we transported all the flowers and supplies to the top floor location where our platform was set up, Michelle told me I would be co-designer and asked for my ideas. I was completely caught off guard. “I wasn’t planning on actually designing. I’m just here to help,” I said. But she was undeterred by my fear and so encouraging. “How about you do the skirt? I’ll do the top half.” Wow, the whole skirt! How does one make a skirt out of fresh flowers?? Again, just take the chance and go for it!
Well, go for it- and proceed with strategic, hidden mechanics. Floral mechanics are just as important as the flowers themselves. For most flowers to last any more than a couple hours, they need a water source. They also need structural support strong enough to hold them up. Without appropriate mechanics, the flowers will wilt or the whole thing could fall apart with gravity. We needed the whole design to last and look beautiful for three full days!
Behind the Scenes
Our creative, problem-solving crew making it happen on the fly!
With sustainability in mind, we did not use any floral foam, which is the most common, most convenient mechanic to support and hydrate flowers for exhibition work. Instead, Michelle came up with an incredibly innovative, ad hoc system of recycled bottles filled with water, duct taped to the mannequin’s legs surrounded by a “crinoline” of chicken wire for structural support. To cover the skirt, I had to thread each individual flower through the holes of the chicken wire and aim the stem into the nearest water bottle. It was intricate work and as the skirt filled with banana leaves and flowers, the less I could see inside and make sure each stem did in fact make it to water so it would not wilt.
We worked for hours and hours; hopping on and off the platform, trying not to hit each other with flower stems or bump our heads on the mannequin’s arms and send her toppling over. When the shopping center closed, the friendly security guards told us we could stay as long as we needed to. Every hour or so they would come by to see how the design was coming along, and I like to think that it made for a much more interesting shift than normal. Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, we declared our warrior queen finished. And my, she was a sight to behold! We spent the next 30 minutes or so taking pictures and just admiring her. From her leucadendron and rosehip crown to her cucumber and camellia leaf shoes, every detail was breathtaking. I just couldn’t believe it. After having never seen anything like it before, to suddenly help bring such a creation to life was such an awesome experience. I was so proud of our design. So elated, and sooooo tired.
Our Warrior Queen in all her glory!
The next day, I drove back to Seattle and attended the big show with a friend. After ogling at all the amazing display gardens, we found the rest of the Fleurs de Villes exhibition. Located in a huge skywalk of the convention center, surrounded by glass and blue sky beyond, were a dozen sleek mannequins dressed in fresh flowers and foliage of every color, shape and texture imaginable. Each one was so unique. Flowers aside, the fashions alone were captivating, but instead of fabric, every detail was made of organic material, even the shoes, jewelry and hats. A picture is worth a thousand words, so let’s let the photos do the talking…
I hope this story brings some inspiration and color to your February day. If you’d like to see more of the amazing Fleurs de Villes exhibitions, definitely check out their website. They recently had a Downton Abbey theme exhibition to celebrate the movie that premiered in September 2025. It was exquisite and appropriately over the top! If you’d like to see floral exhibitions right here in North Carolina, I recommend attending Art in Bloom at the NCMA next month, and do not miss the 4th Annual Folly Flower Show in Kernersville in July!
Fleurs de Villes | Flowers Make Us Happy Art in Bloom - North Carolina Museum of Art Home - Körner's Folly