Carly Cylinder - The Flower Chef: A Modern Guide to Do-It-Yourself Floral Arrangements

People often say to me, Oh, you must always have loved flowers! Your passion is so contagious! The truth is, owning a flower businessnot to mention regularly teaching classes, creating floral content for brands, and writing this floral design bookis actually the last thing I thought Id be doing. Only after a series of chance happenings on a path full of twists, turns, and stoplights did I discover my lifes true passion.

Before I moved to LA at age nineteen and took a job at a florist, my knowledge of flowers was limited to carnations and roses. My first week on the job, I misspelled orchid as orchard and in return received a look from the manager that couldve frozen water. I couldnt figure out how to make a wrapped bouquet until an associate showed me how to put the tissue paper between two layers of cellophane so that the paper didnt get soaked, simple as that. But despite my early mishaps, I loved being surrounded by flowers and I loved watching the creativity and artistry of the floral designers.

I began to carefully watch the designers at the floral shop where I worked, and then Id experiment with flower design when I got home. I discovered that using your hands to create a work of art out of nature is a fun, fulfilling sensory experience. I still savor the way a knife slices through wet, dense floral foam and the crisp sound of roses getting a fresh cut. I adore walking into a room and breathing in the luscious scent of beautifully arranged blooms. The fragrance opens my senses, awakens my mind, and calms my being.

It had always been a dream of mine to open a business, and when I discovered my passion for flowers, I knew the business I wanted to start. It was toward the end of 2009, at the urging of my best friend and roommate, that I decided to go ahead and start a floral business right out of my quaint apartment in the South Bay area of Los Angeles.

And so my flower business was born.

I called it Flour, with the intention of eventually turning it into a combined caf and florist. I started experimenting with floral design using inexpensive flowers that I could get nearby. My brother built me a website, and I began filling it with photographs of my original designs. I vividly remember freaking out when I got my first order on the website: Someone is paying me to arrange flowers for them! I dont know what Im doing! But I swallowed my fear and got to work.

During those first few years, I hustled. I was aggressive about getting myself out there. I cold-called potential clients, attended networking events, and did lots of media outreach. Slowly but surely, business picked up and my design skills improved. I was able to rent a space at a wholesale florist where I oversaw a team of designers for weddings and events.

Now Flour LA, Inc., is a thriving bicoastal floral design business. As an entrepreneur and a self-taught florist, I make my own rules. My designs are inspired by fashion, art, nature, and whatever else catches my fancy.

With this book, my goal is to teach you everything I knowhow to buy flowers, how to care for them, how to arrange themI mean everything. Im here to make floral design easy and accessible. I want to teach you the fundamental techniques, to inspire you to get creative and to make your own designs. And I want to show you how to make beautiful and original arrangements out of everyday flowers.

This book is for everyone: for people who have never worked with flowers and are looking to discover a new creative outlet; for the crafters, the DIYers, and the admirers of flowers whove always had a deep interest and desire to learn; and for those in the lifestyle industry who want to incorporate floral design into their work. I also hope it will serve as a valuable resource for individuals already working in the design field who want to expand and update their techniques.

I wrote this for youthe novice, the dreamer, the professional, the artist. My heart and soul went into this book and I hope it will inform, instruct, and inspire.

With love and gratitude,

As a child, I would watch Julia Child on reruns of The French Chef, drawn to her upbeat personality and her easygoing teaching style. She helped novices and professionals alike learn advanced cooking techniquesmaking fine cuisine both fun and accessible. So when I considered writing a book, I thought about Julia Child, along with the current crop of TV chefs who teach basic skills to home cooks, and I realized that there was no one doing the same thing in the floral design world. I wanted to be that person.

This is the book I needed when I was starting out. No fancy scientific terms, no rare flowers, no convoluted handmade drawings. Each arrangement is written like a recipe with an ingredient list and step-by-step instructions that are clear and easy to follow. This is the book youll keep in your kitchen next to your favorite cookbookssimply pick out some flowers at the farmers market that strike your fancy, come home, flip through this book, and whip up a beautiful arrangement in no time flat.

Every arrangement was chosen to demonstrate a specific method or technique, but feel free to mix and match techniques and arrangements. Many of the techniques I use are traditional and widely practiced. Many others, however, I made up myself. If theres one thing I hope to accomplish with this book, its to inspire you to experiment and create your own designs. Flower arranging should be fun, and I hope this book will give you the tools you need to come up with your own unique designs.

Most of all, think of this like a cook book rather than a baking book. In other words, feel free to improvisethe ingredients and measurements arent absolute. If a recipe calls for one rose, but the one you have is puny, just add two or three more to make up the difference in size. Or maybe your ti leaf is too big, so you trim it down a little. Flower arranging doesnt have to be absolutely precise. Add a dash more spice here or substitute an ingredient there to get your own perfectly blended floral dish. Take what Im saying as a guide and use this book as a springboard for your own creativity.