& OTHER STORIES

I got to pull my dream team together this past week to work on a floral installation for the window to the much anticipated LA store opening of & Other Stories. We had a heat wave this week with it getting as hot as 90 degrees so there were challenges that I had to find creative solutions for to keep this living installation hydrated and green! I have to say, we nailed it. The windows look absolutely beautiful. It really does pull you to the store. 

Thank you so kindly Alana, Christopher + Kirsten for bringing the floral magic. You are my dream team. And thank you & Other Stories for this opportunity! XO

NEW TUMBLR / ATELIERTIGERSTOLILIES

recent collage work / pressed flowers + archival paper / 2016

I have a new tumblr and I am very excited to present it to you:

ATELIERTIGERSTOLILIES

for all things wild, but mostly flowers 

xx

Motel 6 Flowers / AKA Two Hundred Dahlias

MOTEL 6 Wildflowers / 35MM

We had a big wedding in Santa Ynez that required us to stay up there. We checked into a Motel 6 to save on costs and to add to the charm of an already trying wedding (the last time I stayed at one was when I was quite young so strangely fulfilling a moment of nostalgia for me). It was really, really hot which adds to the stress because time management becomes crucial. The last thing you want is to have wilted flowers or worst, dead flowers. Especially if those flowers are dahlias. Two hundred dahlias. Two hundred star-flowers dahlias. The front-and-center showpieces. So we did what any normal florist would do: we rented them a room!  

We single-handedly transformed the motel into a wildflower workshop! Slowly overtaking the room itself, flowers started to spill out onto the hallway, lining the walls, down the staircases while we used the tops of old AC units to the adjacent rooms for creating arrangements. All this while the delicate dahlias sat underneath the cranked flow of the air conditioner, sipping cool water to their hearts content and letting their stems splash around in the clear water underneath them. I was so delighted that I had my Canon F1 with me to capture this. In the midst of the craziness of processing, arranging, misting, and pleasing all the flowers, something started happening to the otherwise still, stagnant air that was there when we first arrived. Transformation. Elegance and grace started to creep in while jasmine fragrance filled the air of our flower sphere. The magic is real. What flowers can do to a space is downright sensational. What they did to that Motel 6 was utterly transcendental.  

So happy to get to share some of these images with you from that memorable day. And major thanks to my team: Alana + Seana, I could not have done it without you both!

what has been going on at the atelier...

It really seems like the month of October has flown by! I certainly did a shoddy job of posting and keeping you in the loop, didn't I? But I trust that you know that it's been a busy, busy past month and a half. I thought a nice little visual recap could give you some insight as to what we have been doing at the Atelier Tigers to Lilies. I feel a lot of gratitude for all of the work that has poured in. Although it has kept me away from the computer and from most of my multimedia (hello instagram, remember me?) I certainly have felt the gratification that comes from working with my hands. At the end of the day, this is what always helps me sleep best - knowing that I have used my hands and spirit to have created something that is going to leave an imprint on someone.

You can always keep an eye on current TTL work by checking out my tumblr, tigrestolilies

xx thank you dear readers for staying with me xx

taken on a recent trip to joshua tree

Working, working working . . .

How about you?

Are you having a peaceful new year so far?

the wedding garden

inside their geodesic dome, where the magic begins

the ecology center!

flower seedling starters

creating lil planting nests for them in between straw

seedling starters happy beginnings

taking a break inside for tea with evan

I've written about The Ecology Center  before. I helped on the flower front with Green Feast here and here. Now my friends Evan Marks (founder, brilliant mind behind The Ecology Center) and Krissy Morrison (remember our natural dye workshop with her?) of Colour Plantae are getting married and having their party at The Ecology Center this October!

The three of us have started a wedding garden to have fresh flowers and herbs to cut and use! How beautiful is that? And fun! Evan got the seedlings started and I commenced planting them in their gardens this week. This is the beginning of a really special gesture, I can feel it. All the while just being there is such a moment of peace, of positivity and of sunshine. If you should want to pay them a visit and volunteer I can guarantee you that you will leave the grounds so lifted and full of life. It's abundant everywhere there. This is such a dream project. I'm all about this kind of awareness and respect, not just for Evan and Krissy but for what they represent, what The Ecology Center represents, and all the people there who put in so much time and heart to educate, to grow, to share, and to make the world a better place. Did I mention they just got their beehive all set up...now go and get some honey and make your life a little sweeter!