Ask: Nicolette Camille Floral Design

 

A giant thank you to Nicolette Owen of  Nicolette Camille Floral Design and The Little Flower School in Brooklyn for giving us our very first interview here at Marginamia!

 Ask will be a regular feature here on Marginamia, where we will hear from some of our favorite designers and bloggers.  We will often be engaging them in fun name games, tailored to their various professions, as well as picking their brains and looking at their work!  

It's pretty simple; looking at the arrangements of Nicolette Owen makes me happy. I love the color combinations, the natural compositions, everything right down to how they're photographed for her websites. I feel like I'm wandering through the garden when I look at them. Nicolette's arrangements inspire me to run right outside with my girls and my scissors, and of course,  to think about beautiful botanical names. 

Speaking of names, her's is pretty awesome isn't it?  Her full name is Nicolette Camille Owen. It has such a beautiful flow, and she just sounds like a floral designer, right? 

Nicolette also co-runs The Little Flower School, in Brooklyn, alongside Sarah Ryhanen of Saipua, where they offer one day, three hour workshops. Below are some images of their recent workshop 

Color Study in Blue:

 Peony class:

Benefit for Japan:

and Dutch Masters:

I hope our next trip to New York lines up with a class; I'm in! 

Nicolette recently did a fantastic story on arranging your own flowers for Real Simple Magazine (July issue) where she shares some really great tips! I made three arrangements Tuesday with Nona. The tips are super easy to follow, but I just wouldn't have thought of them on my own, thus the need for professional consultations like Nicolette's. We had such a wonderful time making these arrangements. Our house smells of rosemary (Nona's idea to include it), and I'm as happy with the end result as I was with the process!

 Enough of my thoughts; let's talk to Nicolette! 

1. I know asking a florist for her absolute favorite flower can present a pretty big challenge, so I won't ask for the favorite, but can you tell us what your favorite few flowers are, lately?

Dahlias,  Garden roses,  Ranunculus, and Ammi.

2. Have you come across any botanical names on people in your Brooklyn community?

Cant think of any botanical names I've encountered but I've met some ladies, January & Winter.

3. I can't stop thinking about Fall! Are there any specific plants or flowers you're really itching to get your hands on this fall?

I really look forward to dahlias, porcelain vine with its beautiful robin's egg blue berries, plumes of celosia & amaranth, and of course all the beautiful foliage-- multicolored pear leaves, beautiful red maple, silvery grey russian olive, rusty maroon forsythia, and the dusty ochre color of persimmon branches.

4. Beyond switching up the flowers you work with in Autumn, does the overall style of the arrangement vary, depending on the season? 

Autumnal arrangements really lend themselves to lots of great texture with all the pods, berries, fruit and branches. 

5. I understand part of your own name has botanical origins? 

My middle name, Camille, was derived from my mother's favorite flower, the Camellia.

6. Do you ever use other aesthetic experiences like film, paintings, a great meal, or experiences out in nature to inspire your creations?

I'm very inspired by the natural world- I like my arrangements to evoke the lushness of the garden, the woods and the meadows. I also find the floral paintings of the dutch masters very inspiring in their sumptuous gestures.

This one, for example, on Little Flower School's blog is by Willem Van Aelst-- so stunning, Nicolette! And I think you are making creations every bit as lovely! 

6. Name Game time!  We're going to create a name using the answer Nicolette gave to the following question: 

What is a a flower whose name you love to say almost as much as you love to look at the flower, itself? 

Dahlia or Fern

I think both are such beautiful names. Thank you for playing along, Nicolette!

I (Kristen) would love to see them arranged this way:

Dahlia Elspeth and

Fern Koemi 

Some of my favorite botanical names found in blog entries by The Little Flower School:

Belladonna

Tweedia

Lilac

Iris

Bluebell

Spirea 

Tulip

Geranium

Brunia

Daffodil 

Gardenia  

And of course, from today's interview and inspiration:

Nicolette

Camille

Owen

Rose

Ammi

January

Winter

Branch

Persimmon 

Olive

Forsythia 

Celosia 

Amaranth

Maple

Pear

I don't think it's any accident that flowers have such beautiful sounding names. They are often (baring a few exceptions, of course) such perfect examples of aesthetic harmony. A Gardenia by any other name might smell as awesome, but it might not tickle the soul as much!

Thank you again, Nicolette, for a lovely chat!  Check out Nicolette Camille Floral Design, The Little flower School, and Nicolette's recent story in Real Simple. I hope you'll all be as inspired as we were!

(all images from Nicolette Camille Floral Design and Little Flower School, floral crown images up top  from O Joy blog)

The names of J. Crew

Update: If you are here via The New Inquiry, welcome. Interesting article, right?  Unfortunately, I feel like my quotes were inaccurately applied. Sarah's claim that I have an "extreme passion to fetishize the named garment" was illustrated with something I said about naming human beings, not naming garments. More specifically, the quotes she used were plucked from a discussion on the so called "dangers" of giving unusual names to children. I invite you to read it so that you can appreciate the context of my featured statements. 

I have written on product names, to be sure, as you'll see in the post below, but my enthusiasm for naming people and my musings on naming products are not interchangeable.  

 In another post, I note the curiously stylish names of hurricanes - So let me say, for the record, that I am not attempting to fetishize tropical storms, either. I trust this won't be on anyone's radar, though - I don't recall Marx having written about hurricanes.  

Finally, I invite you to browse the archives, where you will find a blog about human stories, craft, design, and names - names from any place I can dig them up and analyze them (a somewhat nerdy and fringe interest, but not a capitalist one), amongst various other topics, ranging from homebirth to surfing. 

You will find that "the fetishization of named products" is neither an accurate description of the reaches of this blog, nor is it even the point of the post on J.Crew product names below. With one exception (in the opening paragraph), no products are even mentioned. In fact, Sarah and I are noticing many of the same things regarding the savvy employed in naming products - where her article asks "why name products?" so that she may focus on consumer psychology and ever evolving marketing tools (noble focus), mine asks "why those particular names", in an attempt to illustrate something about the names themselves (not to celebrate products). I blog about names - any product I mention in conjunction with a name is to ultimately say something about the name, itself.   

   Ultimately, these things happen. I think the The New Inquiry is staffed with conscientious thinkers and writers, which is why I will return to read it's articles. 

Update end  




That's dancer Ellen Bar (above) wearing J. Crew's 2010 Delphinia gown. I'll say here,unabashedly, this photo is what launched the variation Delphine onto our short list of potential names for our second daughter; I even toyed with the name Jane Delphinia. We didn't short list the name to honor the image, the dress, or the woman -- we don't know this women and don't honor dresses, no matter how stunning they may be! -- but I was reintroduced to the name by seeing it printed here and fell in love with it's sound and mythical associations.  

This March 2010 issue featured other real women (and a bit of their stories) wearing the company's clothes: designers, writers, dancers, all clad in some of J.Crew's most beautiful garments.

  

It was here in this very issue of the J. Crew March 2010 catalog that I had the idea to take a look at the names of designers and artists as a possible focal point for a blog.  

This woman's name is Naomi Beckwith, a curator. How fantastic is her name? From start to finish, it's magic. I would love to know her middle name.

 Photographer, Carolina Palmgren (what a fantastic name!)  I read that baby ended up being called Sol - another great one.

 Molly and Lily, beautiful names on beautiful ladies.

Other names from this bunch of inspiring women: Mei Tao, Dianna Lunt, Amanda Brooks and Cellerie Kemble.

Since this issue, I've kept a close watch on the names of J. Crew's garments, as well.  I've noticed a real cohesion of the names chosen and the particular images in the catalog. 

 You guys have seen the names, right?  Well, perhaps you've also noticed the change in the line, itself? 

Everyone can readily recognize the changes that have occurred with the brand in the latter portion of the last decade.   Here's an article on new direction, featuring Jenna Lyons, president and creative director. 

The new look, from J.Crew's photography to prop styling to the clothing itself has gone a bit more fashion forward, as have, I would argue, the names in their catalogs. 


I sure would love to know who picks the names.  

It's definitely the work of a serious name nerd and someone who well understands the cohesion of sound and image. or perhaps someone who well understands the role of names in a consumer's expectations?  

Not only are they opting  to name their garments, but they are picking very particular names to match (and further promote or even suggest)a very particular style. The idea that names can connote a certain style or feeling is certainly not lost on them. 

At any rate, the names are worth examining further for their own merits, one of which may simply be being stylish. It was this particular trait that landed them on the pages of J.Crew: 

Edie 

Dahlia

Tulip

Suvi 

Farrow

Bonnie

Betsy

September

Mona

Plum

Delphinia (Delphine) 

Reve 

Miki

Nouvelle

Valentina

Adrianna

Paley

Nanine

Alisanne

Fawn

Meade 

Biella

Elodie

Arabelle

Zadie

Liberty

Colette

Indigo

Pearl

Georgine  

Selma 

Flores

Lula 

Quorra

Cece

Padgett

Darby

Lomellina

Blythe 

Oralie

Fleur

Rory

Kristen 

Kendall

Juliet

Jilian

Mika

Dorrie

Lunette

Minnie

Salina

Whisper 

Campbell

Beaumont

Bowery 

Winslow

Booker 

Bennett

Albertus

Hutton

Meander 

Ludlow

Claude 

Gifford

Thomas

Sawyer

Crew

and from the artists in today's post:

Ellen

Naomi

Molly

Dianna

Lily

Carolina

Amanda

Celerie 

Mei 

What do you think about this set?  Would seeing names on a product take them off the table for you, or would you entertain using a name you came across this way?  

 (image 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Hurricane Irene and tropical storm names

What do the amazing jewelry shop Odette New York (more on this in another post!),

this neato fabric and print shop, June craft,

Florence Welch, of Florence and the Machine,

this iconic portrayal of Ophelia by Waterhouse,

and this Greek statue of Irene have in common...other than loveliness?

                                                              

Odette, June, Florence, Ophelia and Irene are fantastic names! So fantastic, in fact, that they have been chosen to name some of the most powerful forces of nature, tropical storms. These are strong, striking, beautiful names for powerful forces of nature, art, myth and  us. 

 I find myself thinking about storm names after heading to the store to stock up for Irene (I know.) Irene is the goddess of peace! Let's hope she stays fairly peaceful.  

There is  the whole association with the damage done by storms, and I want to be reverent about that, but here's the thing: these names have a vast history prior to being names of storms. My entire household and many relatives are represented here, as are yours, I imagine.  I really think it's interesting how many amazingly stylish names have been used on these storms

So here they are from this year and years past (they recycle), and from all parts of the globe (aside from the current Irene):

Rina

Beryl

Agnes 

Cleo

Ione

Iris

Isadore

Opal 

Ophelia

Odette 

 Dolly

Florence

Hermine

 Eloise

 Fifi

Flora

Hattie

Fernanda

Norma

Selma 

Zelda

Xina

Aletta

Miriam

Willa

Jova

Cosme

Dalila

Flossie

Ivo

Nona 

Kiko 

Octave

Priscilla

Winifred

Orlene

Isis

Georgette

Estelle

Darby

Celia

Agatha

Velma

Elida

Iselle

Karina

Odile

Hilda

Jimena

Nora

Vivian

Trudy

Winnie

Akoni

Iona

Lala

Olana

Pena

Ulana

Pama

Ekeka

Kika

Neki

Omeka

Unala

Niala

Eillie

Kirrily

Olga

Zelia

Fina

Heidi

Lua

Edna

Hadi

Uriah

Yvette

Blanche

Frances

Penny

Ruby

Gretel

Esther

Claudia

Dovi

Heta

Ivy

Lola

Rae

Daphne

Fanny

Koko

Louise

Ogni

Priya

Zita

Funa

Innis

Atu

Freda

Helene

June 

Lusi

Osea

Ume

Epi

Ursula

Veli 

Yali

Gita

Iris

Rita

Mona

Violeta

Zosimo

Isko

Venus

Oma

Uka

Zoe

Velo

Usta

Wilby

Yuri

Xangy

Zanele

Wiley

Clovis

Xylo

Irwin

Otis

Abe

Frederic

Gilbert

 Hugo

Oscar

Cristobal

Hector

Iggy

Oswald

Koji

Rowe

Igo

Vincente

Tico

Keoni

Wallis

Leo

Amos

Luis

Bune

Chris

York

Waldo

Frank

Howard

Lino

Igme

Rolly

Mele

Huko

Wali

Loke

Oho

Walaka

Javier

Newton

Seymour

Virgil

Xavier

Zeke

Boris

Hernan

Simon

Vance

Nolo

Freddie

Hamish

Jasper

Neville

Ferdinand

Harold

Ernie

Lucas

Arthur

Beni

Tomas

Zuman

Walter

Hagar

Reuben

Winston

Oli

Lin

Seriously, what a savy set of names! I can scarcely find one that I don't really like. Is a name nerd selecting these names for storms that they revere and respect, that they put so much of their time into studying, or do the namers of storms find these to be unusable for people,so they're kind of toss aways? I find the latter extremely hard to believe. Not a bad name in this pack.