Author: emily

Gray February seems an apt moment to loll in the memory of last summer’s mythic trip to France.

I got to chop down meadows and forests of this landscape alongside some of my most beloved friends and colleagues.

Here, Ariella Chezar and I haul our treasure.

My workshop relied on local early summer leeks and scallions, wild grasses, and a few imported cornflowers, a flower that may characterize this landscape, but is of course impossible to find commercially grown anywhere nearby.

Onions and roadside grasses.

Here, Shane Connolly and Christian Tortu and I soil the floors of this pristine historical hotel.

One of Ariella’s magnificent centerpieces for our final dinner.

These lovely rooms took flowers well.

Students helped construct this weedy garland.  It formed a natural habitat for the rabbits above.

Who will grow me this tiny leafed oak?  I need this hawthorn here at home.

Shane’s composition of plants, plum branches and local produce.

In his glorious setting, my compatriots and I got to be one anothers’ assistants and students, a very rare experience for all of us. We all share a deep reverence for and commitment to the natural world, and strive to use our work to draw others into that teeming, roiling tumult.

The trip was organized by Eileen Johnson and FlowerSchool New York and is featured in the January issue of Flower Magazine.  Photography by Gemma Hart Ingalls.

We’ve embarked on our holiday voyage.  The crew is balanced on ladders and coated in pitch.  I bounce from yearning for our standard Pagan expressions and semi-gloomy austerity to blurting a loud and unapologetic shout of defiance (can defiance take the form of a hot red fake Chistmas tree?).

One thing I revel in during this grueling season is the sheer scale.  We are dressing buildings, daily, for which we pack van loads of teensy to MASSIVE pinecones — they can create an Albertian grid of perspective when used effectively.

For our friends at The Grill and The Pool, we filled the lobby with a forest of fake and real trees.  Powder pink, maraschino and then the range of gold.  These neon demons glowed, while another family of real firs glowered, unlit.  The native pine forests of our landscape are bringing their aroma and their ancient steadfastness to this party.

Outfitting the international style of Philip Johnson’s interiors is a strange challenge.  It’s not kind to half-measures.

And somehow, in this mad time, we are finding a new home within Roman and Williams GUILD.  Our new store opens this month in Soho. Our friends and collaborators are building a magnificent emporium for the senses, and we will greet you when you enter. MORE ON THIS SOON!

Our alcove.  This may not look like much, but it’s going to be magnificent in short order.

Our window.

Earlier this spring, our friend, artist Max Avi Kaplan photographed the process of building some tiny, delicate designs for a celebration at The Frick Collection. Here’s the experience through Max’s eyes.

Winter.

I love the destruction of these window installations almost as much as their construction.
Someday we’ll get to build a holiday wreckage.

The season is harsh and strange.  I’m compelled to make flowers that match.

Birch and quince are bones and veins.  These brittle or undulating linear directives come from the landscape outside.

Black begonias soothe the nerves, a celestial poultice.

The flowers have sharp teeth this season.  They bite back.
We are ungovernable.

For our upcoming “How to Build a Vortex” workshop,

we’ve adjusted the class times to occupy just one day, Thursday, March 3rd.

The cost of the class is now $660.

It promises to be a super-intensive workshop
with the most delectable materials.

The class will design and build a set for experimental dance and music performances

as part of the Out To See arts festival in the Seaport.

The workshop is 10AM-6PM at the
Out to See venue: 192 Fulton Street 10038.
We’ll provide lunch and tools and amazing materials.
Come back at 8PM to see Chris Carlone perform ($5).

Join us!
Email info@emilythompsonflowers to sign up.

ETF announces our FIRST EVER WORKSHOP!

On Wednesday, March 2nd and Thursday, March 3rd, we’ll host a number of intrepid designers for a two-day intensive installation project. As we enter our tenth year in business, we’ve decided it’s time to share some of our closely guarded methods during this project. We’ll guide participants through our creative process, both design and production, of building a never-before-seen hallucinatory environment from natural materials. What we build will become a set for experimental music and dance performances as part of the OUT TO SEE arts festival of the Seaport. We’ll provide all tools and materials as well as lunch and snacks. Participants should dress comfortably and be prepared to spend a majority of the workshop working on their feet.

In collaboration with OUT TO SEE, our sculptures will literally set the stage for performances by artists Chris Carlone and Hans Tammen & The Third Eye Electric Band. Visit OUT TO SEE for a calendar of all happenings.

Inquiries and enrollment requests, please email info@emilythompsonflowers.pro

A workshop with Emily Thompson Flowers
How to Build a Vortex
March 2nd + 3rd of 2016
At Out to See in the South Street Seaport
$990.00