Bouquet of the Week: On The Road in Paris, Designing An Elegant Bouquet

As part of our recurring Bouquet of the Week series, Garden Collage continues to present a weekly inspirational bouquet that incorporates intriguing new elements into the traditional practice of flower arranging. This week, Garden Collage Founder, Daisy Helman teams with Sacha Walckhoff, Creative Director at Christian Lacroix, to design an elegant Parisian bouquet sourced from L’Artisan Fleuriste in Paris’ ultra-hip Le Marais district.

I feel so lucky that my dear friend, Sacha Walckhoff, Creative Director of Christian Lacroix and independent designer in his own right, offered to do a Parisian bouquet for Garden Collage this week. Because of his busy schedule and the abundance of flower shops in Paris we decided to go to a local florist instead of the flower market. The choices at flower shops in Paris are just staggering: there’s so much variety and vision, and each florist is more impressive than the last.

Sacha choose to source his flowers from the beloved L’Artisan Fleuriste on Rue Vieille du Temple on the edge of Paris’ super-hip historical district Le Marais. The shop was full of enormous Hydrangea blooms, robust Chinese Peonies, Rose branches, Calla Lilies and an assortment of gorgeous flowers.

He shied away from white and went straight for the color. As a designer Sacha is all about incorporating bold, intriguing color, and as one of the most creative minds in Paris he opted for plum-pink Hydrangea, exotic Chinese peonies, Allium, and the ever-popular Impatiens.

I loved watching him discuss bloom size and nuance of color with the shop owner at L’Artisan— he of course did the opposite of what I would have done, and practiced moderation, picking only the best and just enough for our bouquet. Sacha knew exactly what he wanted (which I admire, because I have a habit of over-buying in case I change my mind).

We jumped on Sacha’s Vespa, flowers in hand, and zoomed through the streets of Paris to Sacha’s apartment on the top floor of a classic Parisian building just behind the Opera.

For the design, Sacha used a trio of vases from the fabulous new Reverso glassware line he designed for Verreum.  It was the first time I saw the new vases in person and I was wowed (it is a treat to have such talented friends!)

For concept, he organized the flowers into three vases to add an element of fantasy to his entry table. Let’s call it “Optimism for Spring.” Sacha is not a gardener, but he knows his was around flower arranging– the right water temperature, cutting on the bias. I sat and drank a strong espresso out of Christian Lacroix butterfly cups and watched him work his magic. This was a sublime morning. We cannot wait to see how the bouquet opens up as time passes and the flowers fill out. The Peonies will eventually fade to white, which will change the feel of the arrangement. This is the beauty of flowers– they take time to unveil their secrets. In a place like Paris– where beauty is all around– this is the best kind of mystery.