09 Apr Deborah Main Inspired by Flower Market with Tess Casey (Part I)

Hello again! More to share from the magical #BlogTourNYC!! On our very first full day, Wednesday, March 19th, in New York, we visited the flower district (which is here in Part I) and then we enjoyed learning flower design from New York’s best, Tess Casey.  The above poster hangs in her studio, among many other movie and life memorabilia. Thomas Hardy wrote the beautiful, but tragic story, of Tess and then it was adapted many times in theatre and film.

Tess had a complex life, but Thomas Hardy thought of her as the “Earth Goddess”, really a woman of great beauty and strength….and that is indeed a very poetic description of the truly remarkable Tess I met In NYC! (More on Tess in Part II).

Now on to the market. What a treat to see so many gorgeous flowers all in one place.  Now, I mean, who doesn’t love flowers? When my mother died, I swore I would keep fresh flowers in my home every day, as she and I would find great deals on roses at our local market, and they would bloom for weeks. I’ve slipped up over the years, but what better month to get back on track than April (my birthday AND anniversary month!) where wildflowers are in full bloom in Austin Texas.

And were they ever in full bloom on #BlogTourNYC in the flower markets AND at Tess Casey’s New York studio, Aisling Flowers! I’d give anything for a studio with what must have been 18 foot ceilings and all that space and natural light to design in. But what I loved most about Tess’s studio were all the personal touches from her wedding gown to the photograph from the bouquet she made for  the “Sex and the City” film. Inspiration was everywhere – not just in the flowers, but in all the gem of details throughout her studio. And of course, with the Grand Dame herself!

If you are just joining my blog now, I returned now 2 weeks ago from the trip of a lifetime, #BlogTourNYC presented by Modenus, an international online and offline resource for designers all over the world. I was one of 12 writers selected from design blogs in the U.S. and Canada. (Please learn more about each blogger here).  It was an incredible honor to be selected!!! My trip was sponsored, and paid in full,  by these amazing luxury companies:  Modenus, Meile, BLANCO, West Edge Design Fair, Rutt Cabinetry and Prizer Hoods.  (Read more about our sponsors here.) This is only my 2nd post and I have a million more I want to write and share with you  All opinions and photos are my own. Please check out my first post from this exciting tour here. 

But first I want to thank one of #BlogTourNYC’s generous sponsors, the fabulous duo Megan Reiling and her business partner Troy Hansen of West Edge Design Fair.

West Edge is a four-day event in southern California offering the best in cutting edge modern design. It brings together designers, premium home furnishings, art museums, hundreds of international brands and fascinating new products, all in one inspiring environment. The event also offers educational programs and special events showcasing progressive contemporary design from some of the best interior design and architect firms. Megan and Troy have over 20 years experience in producing some of the finest design events across the country from the Architectural Digest Home Design Show to Neocon. You can follow their blog about the events they manage here . And I must say that this one they pull together with their friend, Tess Casey, for #BlogTourNYC, was the cream of the crop!

Megan and Troy set up the whole affair with Tess walking us through the flower markets and teaching us floral arranging (which I found out Tess NEVER does, so we were a very special group indeed!) and sharing her wonderful stories about working on the sets of “Sex and the City” and many other films, including a huge bomb scene in one movie. (More on Tess and tips for floral design in Part II).

Part I: The Flower District. Our first day started at 8:30 a.m.with a brisk walk through the flower district. I don’t envy designers or their assistants with the task of getting down there bright and early in the morning (Tess said some of the markets open at 3 a.m.!). The designers do not always know exactly what they’ll need for a style shoot that day or what flowers will be available. But at the same time, flowers arrive from all over the world, and they know they have to get down there early to get first dibs on the creme de la creme. Designers have shelves in each flower market they can stack their selections.We saw countless varieties of imported Dutch, Italian, Swiss and German flowers in all shapes and colors, and more names than I can remember.  All the while, hanging onto every word Tess was telling us about each individual flower or flower shop.

These flowers and many more lined the streets of the flower district as we popped into a flower shop after flower shop.

Here’s a peek at the inside of just one flower shop.

Tess Casey discussing where all the flowers come from, and the process of how designers select them, to our blog tour group. We had split up into 2 groups so I learned from Tess the first half and Miles, her fabulous assistant, the 2nd half.

In addition to all the magnificent flowers and aroma wafting through the air on this chilly day, Tess showed us the multitude of items you can put in vases from places like this intriguing store above.  I guess you would call these (below) an array of “floral accessories”. From ribbon to stones to crystal vases…the selection was enormous and colorful!!

All I know is that I could work around flowers all day, every day, and Tess chose an incredible career!!

What I didn’t know was that it would be challenging for me to make a floral arrangements in a short vase. Until I got started I had not realized that all my prior floral arranging experience had been in tall vases and very simple.

Loved all the crystal selections, like candelabras, that could accompany a floral arrangement when doing a table top.

You know me and ribbon….and color!! Spools and spools of ribbon in every color imaginable. (Please follow us on Pinterest, particularly Deborah Main Designs’ board:  Color! Color! Color!)

And sea glass too.  I know you’ve probably seen some of these in restaurants or at an event where they put the brightly colored sea glass in the bottom of the vase to illuminate the floral arrangement. The colors just POPPED in person as did the flowers!!

From left to right: Jeanne Chung of CozyStylishChic blog, Jill & Marc Abelman, of InsideStyleHome, and the divine Ms. Tess!

Tulips define spring for me and the floral shops were in abundance of the highest quality of Dutch tulips in many different colors and varieties.

Above is Tess’s right hand, Miles, leading the other half of our group and then we swapped out mid-way through the flower district.  He was great fun too when we giggled and squished inside the old elevator up to her studio. He also shared some exciting stories about when he first started and how you have to go down to the market SUPER early to select your flowers as all the other designers are down there too. He said it was quite intimidating at first, but he’s an old pro now!

These two guys had no idea what I was doing when I accosted them to take their photo!! These are some of the wooden stems that Tess talks about in one of the videos in Part II of this special day.

Here we are mingling and getting our cameras ready to go inside this very large flower company.

All the flowers arrive in plastic above or cardboard below in large boxes and they are laid out by the shop’s staff for all the designers to see.

Here above is a huge selection of roses of all sizes, colors, and varieties.

 Boxes of flowers arriving fresh from many different countries all over the world.  If you’ve never been to the flower district in NYC it is a must see. You cannot imagine how many flowers there are and how many shops.  In Austin we have flowers in grocery stores and florists but we only have ONE flower shop where you actually get to walk into the refrigerated part and select individual stems.  That was my only prior experience to anything like what I saw in New York.

I couldn’t leave this gorgeous tulip photo out.  I already edited it down to just a few. The colors and textures are just so incredibly vivid in person.

A detail of a beautiful yellow orchid. Oh, and they had plenty of orchids in Pantone color of the year, “Radiant Orchid”. I have never really had an orchid in my home until  my dear friend Cynthia Bloom gave one to my daughter for her singing home concert (which by the way was FABULOUS!!).  I had no idea orchids were so easy to care for, so I might start putting more throughout my home.  The orchid itself is a design masterpiece!

This is the checkout area in just one of the many, many flower shops.

We at Deborah Main Designs want to thank Megan and Troy of West Edge Design Fair for what was one of THE most fabulous days I enjoyed and learned from during #BlogTourNYC. And of course, many thanks to the one and only Veronika Miller of Modenus for this fabulous learning opportunity. The educational component was brand new to the tours…we were the first to experience it…and frankly I could never imagine a tour without them. They were a HUGE hit!

In my pillows designs, I am inspired so much from nature, that all the colorful flowers at this event gave me enough inspiration to last me the whole year…I will never look at flowers the same way again!

In fact, for my husband’s and my 30th wedding anniversary, we have forgone a weekend away and decided last night that we want to spend the weekend fixing up our back yard and planting flowers to bring out it’s beauty once again. Thank you Megan, Troy and especially the “Earth Goddess”, Tess Casey for the inspiration! Watch for Part II of this fabulous day in my next post and get a peek at our design finds from the Best of #BlogTourNYC right here.  Till then, plant some flowers and enjoy that spring is finally here!!  XOPG

Note: All photography and opinions my own.