- Design Inspo
Aesthetic Flowers & The Art of Composing the Perfect Floral Arrangement
Well-composed floral arrangements perpetually invite warmth and conviviality into an environment. Regardless of the variety, aesthetic flowers innately possess the ability to elevate your mood and give life to a space. No one knows this better than Los Angeles-based celebrity floral designer, Eric Buterbaugh, whose clients run the gamut from fashion houses like Tom Ford and Dior to high-profile clients like Demi Moore, Nicole Richie and members of the British Royal family.
For 17 years, Buterbaugh remains the éminence grise of floral arrangements for L.A.’s most discerning. Just last year, he launched a refreshing line of floral-inspired fine fragrances dubbed Eric Buterbaugh Los Angeles, which now includes 17 creations inspired by his legendary bouquets. Here, Buterbaugh gives us his exclusive directive based on iconic vase silhouettes — from crystal to heritage porcelain — and tops it off with the perfect floral scent from his fragrance collection.
Freesias would be perfect for this because they come in so many different colors that would really pop against the clear crystal glassware. Another thing with freesias is that it's one of the few flowers you get from flower shops that still have a little bit of fragrance. I happen to carry these, and I’m actually looking at a bucket of the most vibrant yellow freesias and white freesias now. I’m imagining very stark white, hot pink, and a sort of burnt orange coming together for this arrangement. And these flowers come in even more colors, so they can work for anyone's atmosphere. I think a lot of time, freesias happen to have stems that are very thin and simple so they look neat. For me, when I’m doing flowers, I think it’s sort of important when you can see them through the glass. They look kind of more tidy — some flowers have crazy stems and look messy, but these look nice.
The Fragrance
The freesia is an important flower to me because I actually have a perfume in my collection, which is called Melrose Freesia.
I love the Voyage vase. When I look at this, I immediately think of dahlias, which are starting right now and go super strong into September. These flowers are ones that do have messy stems, so the vase being made from porcelain conceals them, but also looks quite beautiful. Dahlias come in the most amazing colors, and there’s this one raspberry iteration that is big-headed and absolutely gorgeous. There’s also a flower that is called a dinner plate dahlia, which would look thick and vibrant — the heads on this flower are eight or ten inches across, and, quite literally, the size of a dinner plate. They would be so gorgeous in this. And the wider you pull it, out the more extraordinary they are. The raspberry dahlias aren't as big, but they still have a presence and the color really suits this vase, so that's - I think - a clear winner.
The Fragrance
I have a scent with dahlias called 1947 Dahlia, and it's very deep and sexy. The name of it originates from the Black Dahlia murders in Los Angeles a long time ago. Since I’m a Los Angeles-based perfumer, a lot of the names reference this city.
I always go on my gut reaction when I look at something, and for this vase, I don’t know why but something about the color really makes me feel like I would like white in it. And I think with the season we are going in, bright, white dahlias would look amazing in this. Also, white roses or white spray roses would suit the vase along with white calla lilies, which would look really pretty because they have a sort of curvy motion that complements the vase. So I think these lilies would be kind of sexy in this because the silhouette works so well with the candy vase itself. There is a sort of iridescence to the vase, that I really love.
The Fragrance
I have a Lily In The Valley, but one that I feel suits this more is called Sultry Rose — it’s my number-one-selling fragrance.
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