Constance Spry in Flower Mag

Catching up on some reading, I came across an article about the amazing British florist Constance Spry in Flower Magazine. This issue happens to be the 5th anniversary issue, so it has lots of good things in it. Fortunately, the Spry article is available on-line. She was known for breaking British floral design out of the Victorian mold, and she created floral designs for many prestigious occasions, including the wedding of Wallis Simpson and the Duke of Windsor, and the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. Her life was quite a journey... a fascinating story. See the article and more photos at Flower Magazine.

AIFD AIR in CCSF Currents

The City College of San Francisco newsletter, Currents, did a nice write up on the AIFD Artist in Residence event. Thanks to everyone! It was a fun and interesting event.

Breathing Flower at SF Civic Center

Choi Jeong Hwa's Breathing Flower at the Civic Center
Plaza across from the Asian Art Museum. Photo by Kim Munson.

Was headed to the SF Public Library yesterday, and was blown away by Choi Jeong Hwa's 24 foot sculpture Breathing Flower, which is on display in the Civic Center Plaza across from the Asian Art Museum as part of the Phantoms of Asia exhibition. Read more about it at SFGate.

Russian Scientists Revive 32,000 Year Old Flower

Narrow-Leafed Campion.
Photo by Svetlana Yashina

Russian scientists Svetlana Yashina and David Gilichinsky of the Russian Academy of Sciences research center at Pushchino (near Moscow) have grown flowering plants called narrow-leafed campions from 32,000 year-old seeds found in the Siberian permafrost.  The seeds were found in ancient squirrel burrows containing more than 600,000 seeds and fruits, which were buried under 125 feet of sediment and frozen permanently at minus 7 degrees Celsius. The scientists were able to grow living plants from the seeds after placing the nucleus of the seeds in a nutrient bath.  The flowers most closely resemble the contemporary narrow-leafed campion (Silene Stenophylla).  I thought this was amazing! Here is more from the New York Times.

CCSF Floral Class - Web Lecture

This might seem like an odd topic for a floral blog, but it's important. I love floral design, and have been through most of the program at City College of San Francisco. Along with that I have worked in the arts my entire life, and have frequently worked as a graphic designer or creative director for dot.coms and software companies.

Many people don't quite understand the huge paradigm shift that has happened on the web, with HTML 5, CSS 3 and the general user expectation to participate in a conversation/relationship instead of looking at a static informational website. People become confused and overwhelmed by all the choices that are available. Web site, blog, Google +, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter - how do all of these work together? Floral designers need to harness this power and communicate about their designs and what they do.

Below is a short presentation I did for the work study class at the CCSF. Please contact me by e-mail at kim_munson@yahoo.com if you have any questions.

CCSF Web Lecture

View more presentations from Kim Munson.

Ornamento at the Fairmont

Mock-up of Ornamento at the Fairmont by Kim Munson, 2010.

Ornamento has recently taken over the floral shop at the Fairmont Hotel, and become their preferred florist for events in the hotel. The shop had a "soft launch" a couple weeks ago, and we expect to hear about about a big grand opening in the next month or so. 

The graphic on the left is a mock-up of the interior I did for a proposal to the Fairmont. They eventually  decided on a modern French studio theme and I'm sure it will look great.