Who’s your floral idol, crush, hero, superstar?

Recently I sent out a twitter request & email to our mailing list, asking for input on seven different questions. Thank you to everyone who sent in their replies!!

Question #6:
Who’s your floral idol, crush, hero, superstar? Why?

Paula Pryke – just love her work. And Preston Bailey – for someone that does such ornate, over-the-top events, his blog and twitter feed reflect such a modest and humble human being with great business acumen.
Gerry & Rebecca, Petal’s Edge Floral Design, Washington DC & Alexandria, Virginia

Japanese contemporary floral artist Naoki Sasaki. His work is exquisite! Somehow he manages to manipulate natural elements into fantastic design concepts without compromising their naturalness.
Christine, My Creative Workbook/ Floral Lifestyle Design, Vancouver, Canada

I do have to say Robbie Honey and David Stark are my current floral idols. Loved learning how to create large scale designs with Robbie in NYC. He is funny, on trend and is quite the world traveler. I love seeing how David Stark takes art as his inspiration and uses it to produce amazing events and most of the time he uses the product that his client is trying to market. Its absolutely genius.
Alexandra, Exquisite Designs, Chicago, Illinois

Paula Pryke because of her use of colour and her steadfastness through all the trends and fashions and adversity over time. She is still a great leader in showing us the way forward.
Marion, Poppies Designer Flowers, England

Sandra de Ovando. It started with passing her shop window one evening. I told my husband about her and he ordered a bouquet for me for our anniversary. Simply stunning. Then I took a class her studio offered and she was there teaching alongside her staff. She’s built this lovely little empire and her aesthetic is simply wonderful. She’s patient and kind AND quite a role model for upcoming Latina designers! 🙂
Tara, The Blissfull Bloom, NYC

Paula Pryke, I attended one day of her workshop in San Francisco at Cool Water. Her style is completely what I enjoy designing, we have many similarities in the blooms, branches we both use. I appreciated hearing her explain how her business grew to what it is. She is very approachable, learning from her was a joy.
Kris, KRISanthemums, Oregon

My personal floral idol would be Karen Tran, her style and talents match my ultimate business vision for my future brides and clients.
Floral crush is Jeff Leatham, love seeing him work those arms when designing!
Floral Hero & Superstar is David Tutera. I met him in person once and not only was he as handsome in person as what you see in photos and tv but he was so gracious and had such a calming demeanor. I was definitely starstruck.
Jennifer, Mancuso’s Florist, Michigan

How can I not have a few of these? Though lesser known than some, Cloth of Gold Flowers in Birmingham, AL is at the top of my list. I LOVE the way Katie combines color, texture and ribbon. Stunning! I attached a design of hers that to me is perfection.

I also love flower farmer tales (via blog and Instagram) of Love ‘n Fresh, Floret and World’s End/Saipua! They all do a great job letting others peek into their lives and the lives of the flowers they grow.
Nikki Shenk, Instagram: @nikki_shenk, Moscow, Russia

And the one that made my day…

I have many crushes… How do you choose just one? Alicia Schwede and Chuck Graham of Flirty Fleurs, Amy at Botanical Brouhaha because they have started these blogs and have given so much back to us. Holly Heider Chapple, Francoise Weeks, Ariella Chezar, Gregor Lersch, Ian Prosser, Pim van den Akker…. the list goes on and on.. Why these names.. because they continuously are improving their art form. Because they continue to inspire. Because they never want to stop learning. Because they always give back.
Sheri, Blumen Meisters, Texas