a closer look at the flowers in the great gatsby

The Great Gatsby won two Oscars at the Academy Awards last week in the design category. The movie took large strides in inspiring both fashion and decor last year. Catherine Martin was the production manager and won Oscars in both best costumes and best production design with set decorator Beverley Dunn.

The flower scene in The Great Gatsby is my favorite, both in the novel and the movie, although the later far surpassed my limited imagination in high school English class. The scene is set for Gatsby to reunite with his beloved Daisy and no luxurious detail is spared.


"The flowers were unnecessary, for at two o’clock a greenhouse arrived from Gatsby’s, with innumerable receptacles to contain it. An hour later the front door opened nervously, and Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie, hurried in. He was pale, and there were dark signs of sleeplessness beneath his eyes."

 

Daisy and Gatsby sharing a moment amidst an explosion of lavish hot house orchids. Stems of cymbidium, dendrobium and phalaenopsis orchids in a cream, soft green and white color palette.

 "We chose to put a ludicrous number of flowers, particularly orchids, because that would've required hothouses and would represent Gatsby's extraordinary wealth." production designer Martin said.

 Martin, who also won two Oscars for production and costume design of Moulin Rouge, answered a few questions for the LA times on the art deco floral design inspiration:

What was the inspiration for those outrageous floral sprays in Gatsby's house?
I looked at interiors done by Elsie de Wolfe, but the main influence was Constance Spry, probably the most famous florist in London in the 1930s and a favorite of the duchess of Windsor. For her time, she was extremely wild and surrealist, adding cabbage leaves and unexpected country garden things to arrangements.  We chose to put a ludicrous number of flowers, particularly orchids, because that would’ve required hothouses and would represent Gatsby's extraordinary wealth. Constance Spry was one of the first people to put flowers in urns and ceramic swans and other unusual containers, but her arrangements tended to be a little less full. I chose to override her style a little bit and fill the arrangements out. The modern eye wouldn’t understand such a deliberate period look.

The Harlem apartment of Tom Buchanan's mistress also has a giddy gaudiness. How did you achieve that?
I worked with Karman Grech, who has original wallpaper sample books from the 1920s and had a floral with lots of red and pink reproduced. In the Fitzgerald book it says the couch is upholstered in something that looked like the 18th century painting of a girl in a swing by Fragonard. So we had that digitally printed onto the upholstery fabric.
 

I was hard pressed to find out if they were silk orchids or fresh until I came across this article pointing to an all artificial orchid scene. This explains their particularly perfect appearance, not one bruise or brown blotch in sight! What a visually stunning movie.

I put together examples of some of the orchids used:

Photo credits warner brothers and lucky magazine.

Sunset at Montmajour

A Norwegian man hid this grand painting, Sunset at Montmajour, he was told was not a Van Gogh for six decades in his attic. Details of how it was discovered were not shared but this long lost painting has been authenticated by letters, style and the physical materials used, and a traced history. The Van Gogh Museum director described the discovery as a "once-in-a-lifetime experience" at an unveiling ceremony. The Van Gogh museum had rejected the painting themselves in 1990 as it was not signed by the artist. A two year investigation and new research technologies convinced them otherwise. It is now on display at the Van Gogh Museum starting on September 24th, 2013 in Amsterdam.

credit here and here

Eddie Zaratsian's new book: Custom Florals and Lifestyle

Tap tap tap, is this thing on? I had a nice summer break and with the cool weather slowly approaching, the start of school and all that's good that comes with the Fall, I'm back again. 

 Eddie Zaratsian has a new book Eddie Zaratsian: Custom Florals and Lifestyle that is due to be released September 26, 2013 and I am excited to share some of the exquisite images with you!

In a floral industry that has recently been taken over by the lush garden, Baroque style designs, it is nice to encounter some west coast contemporary design.

I was intrigued by the great attention to detail, the use of so many textures and natural botanical material that that Eddie uses. It is no wonder that he is a Florist to the stars of Hollywood. He has a style that is heavily influenced by contemporary European floral design. Eddie's talent has teamed up with Restoration Hardware in their Beverly Hills store for their first floral galley boutique where his modern textural floral art mixes and compliments their styled line of furniture and accessories.

The book hosts many vivid photographs of floral eye candy paired with some of Eddie's favorite floral quotes, its every flower fanatic's must have. 

  "I have always been adamant about creating a beautiful art book, one that could rest on your coffee table or in a common room while the blend of texture, color and unusual combinations of flowers became an affirming inspiration." -Eddie Zaratsian,in the book's preface.

  

photos copyrighted by photographer Marianne Lozano

A visit to Terrain

 

I've been wanting to visit Terrain the store in Glenn Mills, PA since I've come across it on-line a few years back. Their online gardening and floral merchandise is impeccable, I mean right up my gardening/ flower alley. Not to mention that it is from the same company as Anthropologie so I had high expectations as I headed there with my friend Julie as we were in Philly for the day.  Let me tell you, my expectations were met, and then some!

A wall of mounted staghorn ferns as soon as we walked in!? I was hooked right away.

They had all sorts of small plants to choose from, along with an array of vessels and vases to create your own terrarium:

 I have the same chairs but in white! Seeing them in here made me relax a little bit from the chance I took buying them last summer, few!! Now I just need an old farmhouse table like that one ;)

 Julie looking at some magazines

Plants were everywhere, all different kinds of houseplants inside to choose from. Not to mention the outdoor garden center full of annuals and perennials. Everywhere I turned their artistic displays were inspiring.

They have a garden cafe that is nestled into an old greenhouse that boasts of using seasonal local hand selected meats, produce and dairy products. We did not have time to stop and enjoy it, but all the more reason for me to go back.

There was a small wedding taking place as we were there. What a lovely location that would be! I was like a little kid in a candy shop at Terrain, I  knew it would be worth the little treck out to it and I was right. It is now officially my favorite store I've ever been. No joke! I highly recommend a visit and I can't wait to go back during a different season to see their displays and ingenuity.

macrame floral design

I came across this photoshoot for style me pretty. My eyes were in heaven! The gorgeous floral garden designs in the hanging macrame planters as a centerpiece are exquisite. What a statement it makes. And I also have a slight obsession for vintage thonet chairs to top off that great tablescape :)

floral design by mckenziepowell photography by jasmine star photography

found friday: jeremy miranda

I know i have featured him before, Jeremy Miranda, but I just can't help it! I am inspired by so many of his paintings. A few more short weeks and fall will be here. I love harvest time.

evangeline's story

one of the most creative video's i've ever seen! i love the song too, hey mama wolf by devendra bandhart. my sister Annie and her hubs made it using stop motion photography. she's an amazing photographer in the atlanta area.

blossom buddies

my girls fight over this book blossom buddies by Elsa Mora all of the time. She has taken natural elements and made them into different characters and photographed them. My four year old Raquel especially loves giving each blossom buddy a name and a story.

Elsa was inspired to make this book while working with her autistic son who was fascinated with plants and nature. A previous post with more of Elsa's papercutting work is here.

inspiration: the forget-me-not

forget-me-not by sunshine....

I had a wonderful weekend. I'm a Mormon and on saturday evening, from the comfort of my own couch, I was able to watch the General Relief Society broadcast. It is a wonderful hour and a half of talks from leaders to encourage, teach, and strengthen women worldwide. Every woman, whether or not she is a member of The Church, is invited to attend/watch this meeting.

This year Elder Dieder F Uchtdorf gave an inspiring talk using the forget-me-not flower as a metaphor. It is small, insignificant and often overlooked amongst larger show-stopping flowers, but it is still vibrant and happy in the background.

“You may at times feel a little like the forget-me-not—insignificant, small, or tiny in comparison with others,” he said, noting: “I hope (the forget-me-not) will be a symbol of the little things that make your lives joyful and sweet.”

Using an example from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, President Uchtdorf described how Willy Wonka hid five golden tickets in chocolate bars, promising to reveal wonders to the people who found the tickets.

“In their anxiousness, people began to forget the simple joy they used to find in a candy bar. The candy bar itself becomes an utter disappointment if it does not contain a golden ticket,” President Uchtdorf said.

President Uchtdorf warned not to put your happiness on hold waiting for a future event, or a golden ticket to appear. Be happy in the moment now, with the small forget-me-nots in your life.

“The lesson here,” he said, "is that if we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us.”

Exactly what I needed to hear.

I really wanted to but could not put his whole talk on here! It is found here .

Another awesome message from Dieter F. Uchtdorf on creativity here.

inspiration: Amy Merrick

Beautiful lush and romantic floral designs by floral designer Amy Merrick. She also has a lovely blog here, it's one of my favorites!

Also don't forget about the miles of light giveaway here. It ends on wednesday!!

vertical gardening inspiration

Here are some fun inspirational garden photos for your tuesday. A few I would love to try out myself!

small colorful terra cotta pots on an old fence. DIY toutorial here.

tin can wall via flickr

a shoe organizer turned vertical herb garden via pinterest

herbs in old coffee cans via ewa in the garden

burro tail succulents in old coffee cans found in mexica via mozone gardening and a vertical garden made out of an old palette from life on the balcony (remind me to try this one out next year!!).

concrete block garden via remodelista. I would love to try this out in my garden this year and I have the cinder-blocks too! I just don't think lugging them around my yard would be advisable in my last 3 weeks of pregnancy :)