Flower Flashes

Scholastic Art: What is your job?

Lewis Miller: I design flower arrangements for large parties and weddings. The Flower Flashes are my own personal way to stimulate my creativity and do something that’s completely the opposite of working in a fancy ballroom.

SA: What inspired you to start making Flower Flashes?

LM: After an event a few years ago, I was walking home with a big arrangement of roses and peonies, and I was struck by the look of pure desire on people’s faces when they saw these gorgeous flowers out of context. Flowers for me are like wallpaper—I see them every day. I realized that I take them for granted. I also felt the need to give back and do something creatively stimulating because I was a bit bored. Then one night in 2016, bags and bags of beautiful carnations and dahlias were left over after a party. There were yellows, oranges, hot pinks, and reds. We all got on the studio floor and divided them by color. I said, “Let’s go out and do something really unexpected with these flowers.”

SA: How do you explore the materials?

LM: When I had the idea for the Flash trash can, I was looking at this disgusting can overflowing with junk. I just thought, if that were flowers, it would be so much more beautiful. New York City waste bins can devour flowers. They have broad openings. So I start with bulk, like tree branches, to give me an organic structure to build on. Then I pick flowers that feel right. Like, what’s the mood, what’s the temperature of the city? I try to gauge what looks great that time of year and also what we have— leftover from events or what my guys at the flower market have that are old and can’t be sold. It’s a lot of little things that have to come together.

SA: What are the most important skills for a floral designer to have?

LM: You need to know your flowers—how to clean and take care of them, how they grow, which ones will last longer than others. You also need to know basic art principles like scale, composition, form, and movement. It’s important to understand mechanics— what’s going to keep the flowers upright. That takes trial and error. It’s all about experimenting and learning and taking every opportunity to just have fun with it.

SA: Do you have advice for students interested in working with flowers?

LM: When you’re working with flowers like in the Flashes, it has to be something that can be seen from a distance—from across the street, from somebody’s apartment building. The Flower Flashes are not something you’re looking at up close like a centerpiece for a dinner table. This is something that has to be impactful, bright, joyful, creative, and very, very lush.