Michael Gaffney - Design Star Lessons from the New York School of Flower Design

DESIGN STAR

Lessons from the New York School of Flower Design

Flora Publishing

DESIGN STAR

Lessons from the New York School of Flower Design

MICHAEL GAFFNEY

Photography by Keith Lewis and Matthew Bushey

Thanks to those in the floral industry who inspired or helped make this book and my career possible. Thanks to Tom and Alex and the Ariston Floral Boutique NYC, Nick and staff at Nuckton Co. of San Francisco, John and George Kantakis and staff at Associated Cut Flower NYC, and all the students who have attended my schools and with whom Ive had the honor to instruct in the art of design. Finally, a thank you to one of my very most favorite retail stores in America, George Watts and Sons, for many of the table settings seen in the book.

This book is inspired by the prettiest flower in my garden Patricia Gaffney.

DESIGN STAR

Copyright 2011 by Michael Gaffney

Photography by Keith Lewis and Matthew Bushey

Edited by Jennifer Harter

Design by Angie Hinh

2nd Edition

Published in 2014 by

Flora Publishing

P.O. Box 170004

Whitefish Bay, Wl 53217

(800) 841-0873

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Print ISBN 978-0-9899258-0-8

eBook ISBN 978-0-9899258-1-5

I first met Michael Gaffney five years ago while I was putting on a lecture on floral arranging for the Milwaukee Garden Club. Following the lecture, he introduced himself to me and said that he had some rough ideas about also taking advantage of peoples love for flower arranging and their desire to make a splash with their arrangements. As I had been putting on lectures around the world for fifteen years on this very subject (and knew full well how difficult it is to obtain a following), I politely dismissed his aspirations as nave pie in the sky.

How colossally wrong I was. I should have bought stock in the man the day I met him. In five short years, Michael has come from relative obscurity to being a major national force in the floral design industry. Hardly a week goes by when I dont see Michael appearing on major television shows (The Today Show, The Morning Show, Miami Morning, etc.) or being featured at society events and highly-coveted fashion shows (Macys Flower Show, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, etc.).

What is most remarkable, however, is the reality that Michael has extracted some basic design elements from nature, art, and architecture and has created an 8-week course that does in fact convert an enthusiastic wannabe florist into a full-fledged, operating, profitable, professional florist.

His graduating students not only have hands-on experience from his course, but, more importantly, the personal confidence to stretch well beyond their modest time in the industry. Clearly, Michael has been able to draw on his own many years of experience in the floral industry, provide various step-by-step formulae for the most popular, classic arrangements, and thereby consolidate the key elements into teachable truths. Through the sheer force of his dynamic personality, insights, and artistic talents, Michael has taken a cottage industry into the 21st century. To his great credit, he has withheld none of the secrets that most florists guard closely, and instead has freely laid out the secrets to maximizing ones profits, whether as a corner florist or as a floral designer/consultant for weddings and other upscale events. If his graduates have their way, I think we will start to see really beautiful and fully-appreciated arrangements quickly taking the place of the usual lackluster arrangements that are phoned in on the basis of online images (that rarely bear any relation to the finished product).

Not only has he created the New York School of Flower Design course, but he has sold-out schools in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami. Who knows where else he will spell his magic? I never thought it would be possible to have twenty-five students in a class and launch them all into a professional career. What is most praiseworthy is his willingness to share his insights and knowledge with the public through this well-written and wonderfully illustrated how-to book. I have always felt that anyone can create beautiful flower arrangements if they have the tools. Now Michael makes those tools available to anyone who has the interest and the desire to become a professional florist.

In short, I am amazed at the sheer expanse of his many talents professional flower designer in his own right, architect of national (maybe international when you read this) schools of floral design, knowledgeable and supremely self-confident speaker in front of both the camera and classes and, more importantly, an honest man who has imparted his knowledge to make many others happy and successful. High praise for Michael Gaffney.

Ron Morgan

Twenty years ago, I was on my way back to Wall Street, with a job waiting for me at a commodities company, when I took a part-time job driving a truck for a flower shop for a couple of extra bucks. A gentleman grabbed me on my way out the door and said, Wait a minute. Help us with these flowers before you go. And I said, No way, I dont do flowers. He said, Today you do. Its easy. Stick a red flower here. Its called a focal point. And I was hooked. I never made it back to Wall Street. I stayed at that flower shop and worked alongside the owner for six years. Every time he did anything, every flower he put into every arrangement, Id ask him why he was doing it the way he was, and hed show me. It was halfway between being a Zen Buddhist trainee and an architecture student.

This book will help demystify flower design. It will teach you the rules of design and give you the tricks and tips you need to become a top designer. Flower design is as much architecture as it is art. Think of flowers as color swatches and particular shapes, and when you know the principles of design, when you have the tips and tricks and secret formulae, youll know exactly where they belong.