you're my fave - part one

I was planning to start 2012 with something I'm pretty excited about-- the first post in a series on Finnish names, blogs, homes and artists (including an interview!); but I've decided to put it off till later this week (stay tuned.)

In stead, I want to take a post (maybe two) to have a look back at Marginamia's 2011, selecting my favorites from each post: my favorites in the comments from my brilliantly creative readers, my favorite picks from the designers who participated in Ask,  my favorite name pairings from post to post, and the names I'm simply most partial to from all the names I've featured.... along with some new name pairings, of course. 

For part one of my 2011 faves list, I'm showcasing my favorites from our Ask interviews and my favorite contributions from you, the readers, from within your lovely comments. 

The images above are from each of the Ask series of designer interviews. This was a great year for Ask! (and yes, we'll be getting back to it regularly very soon-- I'm so excited about the coming interviews!) I want to extend another big thanks to all the wonderful designers who participated this year. This is absolutely such a special part of this blog; it wouldn't be Marginamia with out it!  Here are my favorites from our Ask segments--

single name favorites from Ask (in order of dates featured):

Celosia (Nicolette Owen of Nicolette Camile Floral Design and Little Flower School)

Edith (Jenny Gordy of Wiksten)

Potter (Jenny Gordy of Wiksten)

Honora (Jenny Gordy of Wiksten)

Dahlia (Amy Merrick of An Apple a Day)

Vine (Sarah Winward of Honey of a Thousand Flowers)

Cedar (Sarah Winward of Honey of a Thousand Flowers)

Aves (Jennifer Wong of Wongoers)

Kazu (Natsuko Hagiwara of Me & Arrow)

Rie (Megan Neilson of Design Diary)


name combo faves from Ask:

Dahlia Elspeth (Nicolette Owen of Nicolette Camile Floral Design and Little Flower School)

Cotton Lela (Jenny Gordy of Wiksten)

Marigold March (Amy Merrick of An Apple a Day)

Autumn Bell (Sarah Winward of Honey of a Thousand Flowers)

Halcyon Teak  (Jennifer Wong of Wongoers)

Hoshi Alela (Natsuko Hagiwara of Me & Arrow)

Phillipina Johana 'Pina' (Megan Neilson of Design Diary)

Another element of this blog that's really special to me is it's readers, not just in that it has readers, but in the particular readers and commenters I have had the pleasure of interacting with this year. I have been so touched in receiving such lovely emails from you, from the letters centered on funny name anecdotes to those full of beautiful, personal stories--thank you for sharing!  I'm often well entertained and inspired to simply link back to your own blogs through the comments, and I feel so proud to have such a lovely, creative bunch gathered here.  

Suffice it to say, y'all have left some amazing comments, and I'm so grateful for your thoughtful contributions- a giant Thank you to my readers!

Here are some names and name combos that really shine from your comments (in no particular order):

Sundew (from Nook of Names)

Momo (from Lucy of Merdenoms)

Hoshi (Japanese for 'star', from Ebirdie)

Iska (from Nook of Names)

Esha (from Lucy)

Clemency (also from Lucy )

Azusa (Japanese, from Mandy)

Palmira (from Jessie May)

Forsythia (from eBirdie)

Fuchsia (from Nook)

Georgina (from Jessie May)

Honey (from eBirdie)

Hermione (from Jessie May)

Robinet (from Lucy)

Cloud (from Lucy)

Georgia (from Modern Crush)

Boheme (from Äiti)

Ibis (from Eponymia)

Myrto (from Jessie May)

Bedivere (from Midwinter names)

Fergus (from Nook)

Oski (from Nook)

Inigo (from Nook)

Nell (from eBirdie)

Belia (from Midwinter names)

Fernanda (also from Jessie May)

Pomerine (from eponymia)

Cleonie (from eponymia)

Eimi (from Anna Emilia)

Brontë (from Nook)

Pepperberry (from Midwinter names)

Murrelet (from eponymia)

Fairuza (from Cristina)

Bay (from T.)


and my favorite name combos from your comments (in no particular order):

Alma Lark (from eBirdie)

William Pear (from Jessie May)

Olive Frances (JM)

Fig Ava (JM)

Emerald Moseley (from Nicole)

Ulani Francesca (JM)

Rosalind Roma (from Nicole) (this would be a perfect 'Ro' name)

Edith Honey Rose 'Eadie' (JM)

Frances Winter (JM)

Seneca Agnes (from Nicole )

Julep Henriette (mine)

Concordia Enid (from Midwinter names)

Lona Mavourneen (from JM)

Joesephine Dahlia (from T.)

Beatrice Bluebell 'Bebe' (from Nicole)

Marguerite Constance 'Daisy' (from T.)

Tallulah Reve (from E.)

Bramble Bellamy (from names for real)

Cloud Marceline (from P.J.)

Oscar Tobermory (from Lucy)

Lucia Frost (from Nicole)

Silvestra Snow (from eBirdie)

Juliet Ophira (from British Baby Names)

Jasper Deco (from British Baby Names)

There you have it, the best of all your lovely contributions in one place. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Now I want to do some new combos from the two singles lists from today (Ask-designer singles and commenter singles), so that the designers and readers may join forces to create awesome combinations!

Designer/Commenter combos:

Celosia Boheme

Potter Inigo

Honora Cleonie 

Cedar Bedivere

Fergus Vine

Sundew Rie 

Clemency Aves

Georgina Kazu

Next up? more favorites, I think: mine and yours! 

Happy 2012! 

(images: one by nicolette owen, two from wiksten blog by jenny gordy, three from an apple a day by amy merrick, four from honey of a thousand flowers by sarah windward, five from me & arrow by brandon harmon, six from myrtle avenue bird town, seven from megan nealson's design diary by brett dierolf.)

Ask: Sarah Winward from Honey of a Thousand Flowers

That's the beautiful Sarah Winward and her floral studio above (don't you just want to be in there?) Sarah styles events and comes up with the most amazing floral arrangements! Her brilliantly named blog, Honey of a Thousand Flowers (also the name of her shop,) documents all the beauty she whips up and is so stunning to behold that you'll find yourself trying to view the entire thing in one sitting. 

A giant thank you to Sarah Winward of Honey of a Thousand flowers for giving us an interview today for Ask!

Sarah is also a contributor at Kinfolk magazine and journal, which I've raved about before, because it's one of my most absolute favorite new things. See this interview with Sarah in the first issue of Kinfolk magazine, and check out this yummy photo she took for the online journal:

Another thing I find so lovely in Sarah's blog and interview is the ways she really comes through in her writing. She's someone you just want to sit down to dinner with and pepper with questions. We'll settle for an online interview, though maybe we should grab a simple home made snack while we read.

Let's talk to Sarah!


1. Both your blog and shop are called Honey of a Thousand Flowers. This is so beautiful and such a testament to what words can do to conjure reactions from each of the other senses. Is there a story behind this name that you can share?


I keep bees at home, in my back yard. I was traveling in Morocco and was at another bee keeper's home, tasting his honey. He has several varieties because he moves his bees around the atlas mountains when different things are blooming. He has orange honey, cactus honey, thyme honey. He asked what kind of honey I make. I live in the city and my bees collect honey from everything that is in a three mile radium around them. So I said to him that our bees just make "wild honey." He thought for a few minutes with a perplexed look on his face, and then he said, "oh, in arabic we call that 'honey of a thousand flowers.'." I fell in love with the phrase immediately and when I started my business, I felt it was perfect. My arrangements are a product of all that is made around me.

(Oh man, Sarah. I'm speechless.)

2. A few of your favorite flowers lately?

I love the wildflowers in the mountains right now, indian paintbrush is really getting to me. I also love garden roses, and whatever weedy vine I can get my hands on.

3. I know you are also an appreciator of names; do you have any current name loves that you care to share? Are there any botanical words that you'd love to see used more often as names?

It seems that all the names I love for girls are from nature, and all the names I love for boys were popular in the WW2 era.

Other girls names that I love: Ivy, Vine, Violet, Cedar, Cypress, Tangerine, Olive, and Autumn. My cousins named their baby Autumn Bell and I think it is a perfect name.
(these are divine.)


4. Name Game! Today I'd like to create TWO names using the following:
For the first names: because you're a floral designer, please select the names of two flowers
For the middle names: please select a grandparent's name (male or female; first, middle or last; grand, great, great great, great great great, great-adinfinitum)

(I switched the first and middle)
Amber Vine
Amber was my grandmother's name. It is really common, but I think paired with the right thing, it sounds really fresh and interesting
Ivy Fern
Maybe it is redundant because it is two flowers, but I love it. Fern was my grandmother's middle name.

Amber Vine and Ivy Fern! I love it, too, Sarah!  And if your blog and business don't have the most inspired name and fascinating accompanying story, then I'll be a monkey's dang hat!

Thank you so much, Sarah! This was so fun and it was just such a pleasure to talk to you!

Names from today's post:
Sarah
Winward
Garden
Rose
Ivy (my mother wanted us to use this one on our second. it is so lovely.)
Vine (love)
Violet (forever a favorite)
Cedar (love.)
Cypress (this is so perfect a name, I can't understand why it's not already popular.)
Tangerine (and she'd have a song)
Olive
Autumn
Atlas
Autumn Bell
Ivy Fern
Amber Vine

I tell you, every time I sit down to write an Ask segment, I come away better! I just love all the inspiration it brings!

Aren't the names lovely? Do you all have any Fall trips planned? I'd love to hear about them!

Visit Sarah's beautiful floral blog, business, and see her work at Kinfolk, too!



(all images from  Sarah's blog, Honey of a Thousand Flowers, and Kinfolk magazine: images 1, 2, 3 by Diana Palmer of Yan photography; 9 by Erin Kate; 6 and 7 by Alixan Loosle; 4, 5, 8, 10 by Sarah Winward)

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)