If you ever find yourself lacking in inspiration for a great floral arrangement, take this tip from event designer David Stark: start with the vessel.
The team at David Stark Design created five fall arrangements just for us–all with flowers available now, and all chosen for the beautiful handmade vessels in which they sit.
Photography by David Stark Design for Gardenista.
The team sourced New Jersey-grown dahlias from the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket in Brooklyn–”Dahlias are the peonies of autumn,” says David–and paired them with black-and-white Splatter Mugs by LA artist Peter Shire.
Armed with this bud vase from Gardenista favorite Cécile Daladier, David assures us even a complete beginner can create floral arrangements akin to sculpture.
David’s team arranged drumstick alliums and passion vine in the three-holed shallow vase, which forces skinny-stemmed flowers like alliums to stand on their own.
Here, the team paired ‘PowWow White’ echinacea with ceramic flower discs of David’s own design. Made in collaboration with Detroit ceramicist Victoria Shaheen for Culture Lab Detroit, the hand-made discs will be available starting October 30 at design shop Nora (in Detroit and online).
David Stark’s Ceramic Flower Rests come in six sizes, each with different hole patterns and each paired with a cylindrical glass vase.
These two designs are all about “architectural juxtaposition,” says David–of shape, form, color, and texture–anchored by sculptural vessels from Brooklyn artist Cody Hoyt.
This terra cotta urn by potter Frances Palmer calls out for a full fall arrangement–”lush seasonal abundance,” in David’s words. The team filled it with locally harvested dahlias, basil blossoms, amaranthus, sunflowers, eucalyptus, echinacea, and smartweed.