From Taylor Swift to Joseph Campbell with some Love and Magnolias
Calling all Swifties…
Ok. I’ll say it. I love Taylor Swift and I love her new album. So I was very excited to watch the Long Pond Studio Sessions. In it she talked about her mindset at the start of the pandemic that led to the creation of her album, Folklore. She said she realized that “if you’re going to have to recalibrate everything, you should start with what you love most.” That really struck a chord with me. I’ve found so much clarity in this forced time-out that we’ve collectively experienced, but that clarity did not extend to my vision of this business I’ve been trying to create.
The reality is that I’ve been dragging my feet for awhile. I had been envisioning and organizing my thoughts, my workspace, and my social media for about a year when the pandemic started. I was getting ready to ramp up marketing to launch in a more public way, but there was some hesitation on my part that I couldn’t quite figure out. So I just hit the pause button and put the ideas to bed for awhile. Something I had read in a Magnolia Journal article about a guy who gave up a lucrative career to make and sell salted caramel candies had been bouncing around in my head. At the time that I first read it, it really resonated with me: “If you step off the cliff, steps will appear.” But if this really resonated with me, why was I still standing on the cliff, looking over the edge waiting for the steps to appear instead of taking the leap with faith that it would all fall into place?
To leap or to stumble…(the problem of flowers)
Some of it may be that I tend to be cautious and pragmatic rather than impulsive. It was more than that though, there was a piece of the puzzle missing, but I was unsure of what it was. In walks the 30-something version of “Barry Mann and Bruce Springsteen together in one silver metallic mini-dress wearing package”. The voice of a generation (albeit not mine) awakened something with her statement, and I realized the flowers were the problem. How can that be? Flowers are my medium so how can they be the problem?
Start with what you love most
The charge from Taylor was to start with what you love most, so what do I love most? My family—of course, they come first—but for me as an individual separate from my roles as wife, mother, daughter, sister, what is it that drives me? The answer is simple — what really drives me is creation. I think at heart, I am a maker. Starting with the most basic raw materials and making something out of them: the butter, sugar, and flour that transform into a stunning cake, the dried plant material that becomes botanical art, the blank page that turns into a delightful invitation.
Penn Charter Art Exhibit Opening Night Cake featuring sustainable design, programs, and practices around campus
Child’s Birthday Party Invitation, tri-fold with 3-D and moving dog head inside
Queen Bee-atrix’s Bonnet, Philadelphia Flower Show ‘Holland’- made entirely of dried plant material with fresh ranunculus, craspedia, and solidago.
Created with Lisa Walker
Winner of Blue Ribbon, Blue and Gold Ribbon of Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania presented daily to the highest scoring blue-ribbon winner in the Small Niche, Medium Niche, and Quadrant classes, PHS Award presented to the outstanding blue-ribbon exhibit of the week in the Quadrant classes, National Garden Clubs, Inc. Medal for Design awarded to the design exhibit judged by NGC panel to be the finest in a major, non-standard flower show. Must score 95 points or more. Eligible classes: Miniature Arrangements, Quadrant, Pedestal, Small Niche, Medium Niche, Backed Pedestal, and Galleria.
Adam Savage said, “Humans do two things that make us unique from all other animals; we use tools and we tell stories. And when you make something, you’re doing both at once.” This is exactly what I love most. With each new creation, I’ve given a part of myself to that creation, and there’s story being told. There’s a disconnection for me when I pick up flowers, sight unseen, from a wholesaler. Sometimes they’re perfect, more often than not though, they’re not exactly what I was hoping for. We don’t have a large flower market here like they do in New York or San Francisco.
In the past, I have ordered most of my flowers from the largest wholesaler in the area to get the biggest selection and usually better prices than the smaller wholesalers. But I can’t walk the aisles and get inspired by the sea of blooms. I have to place orders online, choosing flowers from tiny photos that are likely not photos of what’s in stock that day but something taken many bunches ago. Sometimes the color is slightly off or the blooms are not what I had envisioned. Just like a chef who goes to a farmers market to choose the most seasonal, local produce and is inspired to make a dish, I like to see the flowers and build a palette from one special bloom. I also view my designs, not as a commodity, but as a gift to the recipient. I don’t make assembly line arrangements. I strive to make thoughtful, unique and artful pieces that are personal to me and to the person who is receiving them. I recently heard an inspiring talk by David Rubin, the founding principal of DAVID RUBIN Land Collective in Philadelphia. He talked about his practice of digging up a plant from his own garden to plant in each of his large garden builds—like a personal gift from him to those who will enjoy the new space. I think that is such an incredibly special way to have connection to what you create. I love to walk into my garden to cut a few blooms or some foliage I’ve grown myself to add to my designs. Not only does it add something of me in the design, it also adds something unique that can’t be found at a wholesaler. So why not take that to the next level?
An idea is born…
My love of flowers started in the garden so it makes sense that that is where my career in flowers should begin. When you grow a flower, you know that flower from seed to fruition. You are connected to in it in a way that you can never feel with a flower from a wholesaler. That’s why this year I am embarking on a new project of building and growing my own cutting garden. It will be a time of experimentation and learning. My dream for this venture is to grow many of the flowers I use just like florists did a century ago. I have always liked the connections to the past, and it’s so much better for me, for my customers and for the earth. (To read more on why, click here.)
Jennie Love plants seeds in your imagination not just in the field…
I must credit Jennie Love of Love ’n Fresh Flowers, a Philadelphia-based urban farmer-florist (she actually coined the term) with planting the seed in my mind of starting a mini cut flower farm. I was so lucky to be able to spend a day with Jennie on her farm last November. Back then, I was just beginning to conceptualize this business, and Jennie was so completely generous with her vast knowledge on running a small business, finding a niche, using social media and more. She asked me about what I had already growing in my yard and offered some suggestions about what I might add. She was gently nudging me in the direction of growing for my business, but I was slow to latch on to the idea. The thought of trying to find footing for this baby of a business while also figuring out how to be a flower farmer was too daunting of an enterprise. Or maybe not…
The gift of time, Taylor’s words, some salted caramel candies and an idea to mull over…
Just as gardening is an exercise in patience, sometimes so too are the best of ideas. That seed was planted without me really ever acknowledging the thought, but it grew nonetheless with time and was fed with little tidbits of knowledge that I’ve gained over the last year. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and dreaming. I have a bit more work to do to establish my new cutting garden plot—and a whole lot more learning to do. I envision this first spring and summer as an experiment. I lost my mind a little in the seed catalogs and bought just about everything that sparked joy in me. I will be planting and growing way too many flowers, but it will be a good chance to find out what works and what doesn’t. As time moves forward, and I gain experience and knowledge, I hope to hone in on the flowers and foliages that I can grow well and that inspire me to make beautiful things. I also hope to start hosting workshops and invite many to enjoy the beauty and joy of flowers with me. I think the quote that I first saw in Magnolia Journal may have been a version of something Joseph Campbell once wrote, “Follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.” I am going to follow my bliss and have faith that the right doors will open. The doors of Olivia Lucas Design, a micro flower farm and design studio, will be open to all of you. Hope you will join me.
“When you know the farmer and his or her story, you experience a completely different relationship with the bouquet you hold in your hands. One small gesture of purchasing local and seasonal flowers is empowering — and it can direct the course of an entire industry.”