Flower September/October 2021

“Nothing like a farm. Nothing like being around animals, fixing things. There’s nothing like being in the field with the corn and the winter wheat. The greenest stuff you ever saw.”—Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) in The Natural ALMOST EVERY SATURDAY MORNING of my early adolescence, I would go with my mother to pay a call on her namesake, my great-grandmother Carrie. She lived in a rambling, unpretentious but graceful fieldstone farmhouse on the crest of a country mountain outside Birmingham, Alabama. I use the phrase “pay a call” intentionally. As a young girl, my greatest passion was horseback riding. And of course, school-year Saturdays were the best of days since I would be dropped at the barn in the morning and picked up late afternoon. But not before the “call”…

Flower Flash by Lewis Miller (Monacelli Press, 2021), $55 Everything we’ve ever wanted to know about esteemed New York florist Lewis Miller and his famous Flower Flashes that bring beauty to the urban landscape and joy and comfort to all who pass by them Collected Interiors: Rooms That Tell a Story by Philip Mitchell (Rizzoli, 2021), $55 In his first book, which features nine homes ranging from New York’s Upper East Side to Nova Scotia, Philip’s signature “modern maximalism” is on full display, as is his talent for layering different styles and eras. His passion for engaging art, collections, and gallery walls encourages us to go bold. The Well-Loved House by Ashley Whittaker (Rizzoli, 2021), $50 Botanical custom murals, exuberant and quiet floral fabrics, and walls done in aubergine and…

London-based Floral Street, created by beauty industry veteran Michelle Feeney, is introducing eco-friendly perfumes for the home with a new line of fragrant candles and diffusers in four scents. The company says the new scents are “powered by flowers,” which makes us smile. “When we were developing our clean and conscious home range, I realized what we don’t put in is just as important as what we do put in. Taking out all the harmful elements enables the fine fragrance to shine through,” Michelle says. The collection appeals to those who desire calming scents and those who want to be energized. From $46 for a candle or diffuser. nordstrom.com and floralstreet.com…

New Ravenna, maker of custom tile mosaics, has partnered with bespoke hand-painted wallpaper company Gracie to bring even more magic to walls with imaginative glass mosaics. The designs represent international historical themes, from Roman and Chinese antiquity to Japan’s late Edo period and French Art Deco. As Jennifer Gracie explains, “We admired the work of New Ravenna long before we connected about a collaboration. I lost count of their many gorgeous designs I saved on Instagram. Wallpaper and showers do not generally mix well, so New Ravenna’s mosaic interpretations expand Gracie into the bathroom and kitchen!” newravenna.com…

Boston-area interior designer Mally Skok debuts a lively new line of four woven performance fabrics to join her existing collections. Although she was grounded during the pandemic, Mally looked to her past adventures for inspiration. “I designed my woven collection after a trip to Morocco with my sister. I loved the different designs and weaves of the rugs and textiles we saw in the marketplace,” she says. “In addition to thinking about the places I love to travel the most, for this collection I drew on the colors from the nature around me, playing with the colors of flowers, leaves, sea, earth, and sky.” Those inspirations are naturally some of our favorites. Each pattern comes in four colorways. mallyskokdesign.com…

Birmingham, Alabama–based fine artist Patty B. Driscoll introduces a new outlet for her considerable talents with Agatha Studio, a collection of expressive brass door hardware that goes well beyond the expected to impart personality, history, and craftsmanship to an everyday piece of decor. She took care to understand the process first, learning the art at the famed Penland School of Craft. “I was particularly inspired by the Regency dolphins that support the table in my entry,” says Patty B. “I knew they’d make beautiful hardware.” She started sculpting wax models, fueled by the idea that these pieces would be more than tools to signal a guest’s arrival. “I think that they are reflections of the family on the other side of the door—their aesthetic, as well as their interests,” says…