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"   Last Sunday, the plants that event designer Emily Thompson uses to create stunningly original arrangements seemed to be reaching out of her Brooklyn studio, inviting passersby to stop and smell the flowers...and maybe have some wine and cheese, too. Thompson threw a party to show off her redesigned studio and to introduce neighbors to her floral work. Planters on the stairway overflowed with herbs and thunbergia vines; a garland of privet and pinecones fluttered in the breeze; and a wreath draped on the sign that read &amp;quot;FLOWERS&amp;quot; looked like it had been dropped by a low-flying sparrow. The effect echoed the concept of a wedding Thompson designed last year: a Berkshires banquet thrown by woodland creatures, with tables strewn with foraged twigs, acorns, feathers and wild berries. Thompson is known for organically beautiful floral designs that look natural and wild yet artfully composed, like some unseen mythical hand had styled them. When creating the d\u00E9cor for weddings, she mixes colors, textures, and historical sensibilities. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m inspired by the ancient Romans and classicism, but also by kitsch and camp...and interiors through the ages.&amp;quot; Bucking the trend of super-saturated blooms that overwhelm the senses, Thompson prefers a smart, selective use of color. &amp;quot;Flowers should be used singularly so each one is given respect. I like to let the flowers breathe, to look like they&amp;#039;re nestled in the shrub or bramble they grew in.&amp;quot; Instead of bright bunches of petals, Thompson&amp;#039;s arrangements incorporate green leaves in different shapes and shades, pieces of fruit, exotic yet understated flowers and other natural delights. The brides she works with tend to prefer pretty, loose assemblages of blooms and stems over tightly-packed nosegays. These women are more feminine than girly; they&amp;#039;re also more likely to take risks. For a Cape Cod beach wedding, Thompson convinced the bride to carry a ten-and-a-half foot bouquet of orchids, beach roses and lots of ferns. The groom later wore the tail of the bouquet like a botanical boa.    Thompson started her business in 2006, after helping her siblings&amp;#039; plan their weddings. She grew up gardening with her mom in northern Vermont, and aside from a one-month stint in a flower shop, her skill with flowers is mostly self-taught. But Thompson brings something fresh to the art of floral arrangement: a sense of form and texture that comes from being a sculptor. Thompson has an MFA from UCLA, and exhibits her ceramic, wax and multimedia pieces internationally. When asked how her training and talents as a sculptor influence her work with flowers, she explains, &amp;quot;I think I&amp;#039;m more conscious of the contexts we create around ourselves. I like to create both a still-life and a landscape with my flowers, to play off of different types of interiors, and tie the flowers in to the history of the location. I want them to integrate into the space and the event.&amp;quot; Like Thompson&amp;#039;s floral pieces, her transition to event design seemed to happen organically. &amp;quot;I love to cook, and most of my artwork uses themes of display and entertaining. So it&amp;#039;s been natural for me to move to designing other people&amp;#039;s events and creating visual backdrops for them.&amp;quot;  At the launch party, guests and other artists mingled among the gigantic arrangements she creates for homes, offices, restaurants and events. These included a vintage urn on a 150-pound concrete pedestal filled with magnolias and mimosas, palm leaves, Australian flannel flowers, and small pears. The piece was an asymmetrical eight feet wide and nearly nine feet tall, but seemed natural and balanced, as if it had taken root in the recently refinished wood floor and slowly spread, leaf by leaf, from its core.  The studio door will be open to the public on weekend afternoons this fall. When Thompson is not out putting final touches on winter weddings and holiday parties, she&amp;#039;ll be there to point out the unusual plants (Japanese wire vine, nicotania) in her arrangements. She&amp;#039;s also selling a limited selection of cut flowers, like forced bulbs of snowdrops and lily of the valley, lady slippers in vintage humidors, and tree posies wrapped in hand-printed paper by the collage artist Melissa Barrett. New York brides-to-be, party-planners and flower-lovers in general should stop by; out-of-towners can admire Emily&amp;#039;s work at emilythompsonflowers.com. \u2014Corrie Pikul, Associate Articles Editor Photos: Lisa Vollmer "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/culture/art-design/news/a3031/emily-thompsons-stunning-floral-designs-1708/>