Thursday, November 01, 2012

The New Constance Spry Style




I have lived in a high-rise building for some years now, and I love it.  Every morning, my newspaper is placed outside of my front door.  I have a trash chute conveniently located within reach of my kitchen's service entrance.  And what's not to love about having a lobby staffed by somebody 24 hours a day?  The one thing I lament about living in a high-rise, though, is that I have no yard from which to clip flowers, leaves, branches, and pine cones for my floral arrangements.

My childhood home's property yielded all kinds of wonderful yet uncomplicated flowers and greenery.  There were gardenia, camellias, magnolia and oak trees, and beautiful holly bushes that bore fiery crimson berries come Christmastime.  Our property was my mother's floral market, and her arrangements always reflected what was blooming and thriving outdoors.  What I remember most, though, was how loose and simple her arrangements were.  A single magnolia blossom floating in a silver revere bowl, or branches of copper colored oak leaves perched within an antique glass fish bowl.  They weren't studied nor fussed about.  These arrangements were as Mother Nature intended, in a way.

When House Beautiful asked that I write a blog post about what the "New Constance Spry Style" means to me, I started to think about Spry's artistic, iconoclastic, and, most importantly, naturalistic floral arrangements.  (In case you're not familiar with Spry, she was one of the most noted floral designers of the 20th century.  Her arrangements took the fashionable set by storm in the late 1920s and 30s thanks to Spry's then offbeat use of greenery like grasses, leaves, and seed heads.)  It occurred to me that after years of living without a yard- and years of relying upon my local grocery store for flowers like lilies, roses, and carnations- that I forgot that arrangements don't have to be tight, compact, and of one variety.  After all, our houses aren't one note, so why should our vases of flowers lack diversity?  Maybe it is high-time for me to heed Spry's advice and start mixing eucalyptus leaves, kale, or pussy willow into my arrangements.  Perhaps I need to tone down the bright colors to which I am attracted and start seeking flowers in shades of dusty greens, soft pinks, and pale gold.  Oh, and grass. I need to do as Spry did and add grass to my floral arrangements.

Well, while I figure out from whose yard I can retrieve this greenery and grass, I leave you with a few photos of arrangements that reflect the spirit and creativity of Spry.  They were all done by Michal Evans, one of the foremost floral and event designers in the South.  (I consider him to be Atlanta's own Constance Spry.)  I crave all of Michal's designs, but what I like about these are their complexity.  By building layers of flowers and greenery of different colors, textures, and shapes, Evans has created masterpieces that are artistic, intriguing, and really quite beautiful.  More importantly, though, they look like arrangements of which Mother Nature would approve. 

*This post will be featured in the December/January issue of House Beautiful.








The photo at top is courtesy of House Beautiful, December/January 2012.  The remaining photos courtesy of Michal Evans.

9 comments:

  1. Hi Jennifer

    Hello from London. Do you know the Constance Spry Rose? A vigorous light pink climber. Expect you do. CS was undoubtably an extremely creative, dynamic and interesting woman. Didn't she also influence those 60's, very static, dried flower arrangements, which I think are very different from the organic, wild flower thing going on at the moment?The sort of things my mother used to do back in the early 70's. Not that I'm any sort of expert on flower arranging- I'm not; much more into gardening. But you've probably got the David Hick's Book of Flower Arrangement- there's lots of this going on in that.

    I did a fairly recent post on her recipe for Coronation Chicken, which you may have seen. There's also the famous Constance Spry Cookery School in Winkfield, Berkshire (that's near Windsor) where nice girls go to learn about things.

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    1. Luke, I do indeed have the David Hick's book, and there were a lot of dried arrangements featured in it. Not particularly my favorite type of flower arrangement. I know that Spry used grasses and the like in her arrangements, and perhaps that style morphed over the decades into the dried business that we saw in the 70s. Not sure, but that's an interesting point you make.

      I did see your post on Coronation Chicken, and am planning to make it sometime. If only I could find the time to cook!

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  2. Loving the second arrangement!

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  3. What I do remember is that my mother (and all her friends) were obsessed with Constance Spry- this would have been in the late 60's, early 70's, and I always assumed that those dry arrangement things (with the dried Eucalyptus leaves stuck into oasis) were influenced by her. I may have got this one completely wrong? Her name seemed to crop up in their conversations again and again. They all had well thumbed copies of The Constance Spry Cookery Book in their kitchens. It was a sort of bible. Like a modern day Mrs Beeton.

    I think it's worth having a shot at CS Coronation Chicken. It's actually very different from the stuff you're usually served up with. With more punch and flavour- the use of red wine and apricot puree gives it a kick. But I wouldn't get too excited...

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    1. Oh heavens, yes. That dried Eucalyptus. I remember it well. And don't forget the errant peacock feather or two. Those were the days...

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  4. Jennifer I look forward to your post in the next HB and applaud your shout-out to Michal Evans. I am also a huge fan and he is still my go-to guy in Atlanta, now 12 years since I moved away. His talent and creativity are an inspiration and a joy to behold! Frances

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  5. Those arrangements don't look like arrangements at all that's why they look so covetable.....my Constance Spry rose is about to burst into flower (in Aust.) but sadly it only blooms once , it is to my mind the perfect pink rose.

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    1. I've heard of the Constance Spry rose, but have never seen one. (At least, not that I'm aware of.) I'm going to Google it right now!

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  6. Apartment living & grocery store bouquets do tend to go hand & hand. This is a great reminder to spice up those bouquets with other greenery. If raiding your neighbors yard isn't an option, you might also be able to use the greens on carrots or other veggies, & any farmer's market is a fun place to find inspiration!

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