Wait a Moment

Lately I have been asked what defines my style and outlook when creating either interiors or floral sculpture/designs.  I respond slowly, trying to find the quickest,easiest translation without trying to sound pompous or overly descriptive.   Its a task of organizing, in my head, the correct response without spewing out contradictory points of creative, pointed arrival.  I have finally found my response: My thoughts and designs are composed in "Moments".

Now, let me take a moment to explain the moment of conception and throughput.   My second job was when I was 15 and I had crossed the street to work at McDonald's (my first being at Hardee's where I was fired for "not being cut out as a burger flipper").   While at McDonald's,one of my jobs, if you will, was working the drive-thru.  We were told that when we told a customer "please hold a moment", that meant we had exactly 1.5 minutes or less to return to that customer for service.  The Old English "moment" was 1/40th of a minute and today's modern "moment" is any express time limit - I call it quickedness.  I never loved the process of interior design because it took too long to come to fruition and then, at that point of arrival, something would fail and minds would change.  Therefore; I found complete satisfaction in the moments created when I design with flowers.  The flowers are bought fresh in the morning, designed soon after and sent out for exhibit immediately after completion.  I don't believe in or have coolers for this exact reason.  Nothing prolonged, nothing over thought, nothing left for debate; just a guttural response to my medium.   

I have never been one to like the confusion of walls, corners, floors and ceilings being cluttered with "stuff" to fill in the blanks.  I design for creating moments.  In a home, for example, we take for granted our space and walk by many of our possessions because we forget to stop and admire their beauty or story.  Empty walls with a single great piece for furniture that hold a simple vase of a single Japanese maple branch lit like a work of art: is a moment....to stop what you are doing, look at it and continue with your day.  More compulsive would be a stone dish holding a topple of goats milk soap set next to your tub waiting for its dip into a hot bath of inviting water.  Yes, I have that stone dish at the ready for my next bath.  And, admittedly, it is compulsive and obsessive, but it makes me happy while I scroll it over my limbs into cleanliness.    

Its a simple way of living when life is racing around you.  My dad always said that when I trip or stub my toe or fall down when rushing, its life's way of telling me to slow down for just a moment and "smell the roses".  As life gets faster and people walk quicker and cars race frantically and media bombards us with chatter, why not take those moments, less than a minute, of each of our days to stop and look at what makes our living so great.  I have always said: I don't care if people love or hate my flower designs.  What is important to me it that they stopped and looked at it.   I have created moments in my home that make me happy when I glance at them.  I love the way a floor lamp in my dining room stands proud at the tables end and the way the ghost chairs surrounding  my table float as if they aren't really there.   The charcoal walls and the grain of the table play off each other like a leaf to a tree.  And I love the odd, teardrop shape of the matte white vase that holds a single giant leaf.  Nothing cluttered, nothing overly thought, just plain simplicity which slows down my always tumbling thoughts, for just a moment.

                                                     photo courtesy of: Dries Van Noten

My favorite designer of his fashion shows is Dries Van Noten - simple moments with lasting impressions.  That is life!! That is living!! Sounds simple. Because it is simple.  I urge you to take a moment of each of your days and enjoy it.  Find those things you forgot to look at yesterday and within less than a minute of your time, you may just change the outlook of  your entire day.