On Flowers: Lessons from an Accidental Florist

by Amy Merrick

Overview

Named a Best Gift Book of the Year by InStyle, Real Simple, Better Homes & Gardens, and the Wall Street Journal

“If coffee tables could make . . . wish lists, [this book] would certainly be on them.”
—Better Homes & Gardens

A singular, personal celebration of the beauty and possibilities of nature
 
Amy Merrick is a rare and special kind of artist who uses flowers to help us see the familiar in a completely new way. Her gift is to revel in the unexpected—like a sunny spring arrangement housed in a paper coffee cup—and to overturn preconceptions, whether she’s transforming a bouquet of supermarket carnations into a breathtaking centerpiece or elevating wild and weedy blooms foraged from city sidewalks. She uses the beauty that is waiting to be discovered all around us—in leaves, branches, seedpods, a fallen blossom—to tell a story of time and place.
 
Merrick begins On Flowers with a primer containing all her hard-won secrets on the art of flower arranging, from selecting materials to mastering pleasing proportions. Then she brings readers along on her journey, with observations on flowers in New York City and at her family’s summer home in rural New Hampshire, working on a flower farm off the coast of Washington State, and studying ikebana in a jewel-box flower shop in Kyoto. We learn how to send flowers like a florist, and how to arrange them like a farm girl. We discover the poignancy in humble wildflowers, and also celebrate the luxury of fragrant blousy blooms. Collected here is an anthology of floral inspiration, a love letter to nature by an exceptional, accidental florist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781579658120
Publisher:	Artisan
Publication date:	10/15/2019
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	526,703
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 11.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Amy Merrick is a traveling writer and stylist who started her career as a florist in New York City. Her flowers have been featured in Vogue and Architectural Digest and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA PS1, and Bergdorf Goodman. She has written about her experiences with gardens, flowers, and design for the Wall Street Journal.

Editorial Reviews

08/19/2019

Merrick, a stylist turned florist, delivers an homage to all things flower-related in this opulent scrapbook-style gift book that will inspire creativity in some, and envy in others, toward the Instagram-ready lifestyle it portrays. Merrick’s trendy use of unstructured, wild-looking bouquets are a key part of the book, as are her accounts how she acquired and honed her style—at Elmwood, her family’s summer home in New Hampshire; by collaborating with a Japanese florist in a flower-arranging class; designing informal arrangements for small social events; and picking wildflowers in a Brooklyn parking lot. The perfectly curated evocation of another, more genteel era, through china teacups, gingham wallpaper, and ginger jars—as well as, of course, floral arrangements—should prove seductive to many readers. In one of the most memorable essays, Merrick vividly recalls describing the “smallest bedroom” (her own) where “from my pillow (with its antique, lace-trimmed case), I can watch the moon rising over the lake and see a thousand stars glow over the mountains.” There is plenty of aspirational appeal to Merrick’s flawless, seemingly effortless arrangements, but longtime floral enthusiasts may find a sense of the perspirational lacking from her expertly appointed guide. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Named a Best Gift Book of the Year by InStyle, Real Simple, Better Homes Gardens, and the Wall Street Journal

“On Flowers is far more beautiful than I imagined. It is part journal, part meditation on humble and decadent blooms alike that is filled with soulful photography and illustrations.”
—New York Times

“If coffee tables could make . . . wish lists, [this book] would certainly be on them.”
—Better Homes Gardens
 
“In this gorgeous coffee table book. . . . Merrick shares flower-arranging secrets and essays about her inspirations.”
—Real Simple

“Amy Merrick's On Flowers (Artisan) is full of the lush, poetic arrangements and pictures that made her an early lnstagram star. She teaches how to cut blooms to the proper height, make roses last, and let tulips be unruly, while sharing snippets from her world travels.”
—Martha Stewart Living

“Amy Merrick’s delightful hodgepodge of photos, diagrams, and lists decodes the art of the soulful bouquet.”
—Wall Street Journal

“A celebration of all things floral, championing the exceptional and commonplace with equal enthusiasm. . . . A richly illustrated work.”
—The English Garden

“Merrick is known for her wild, natural flower arranging and here she teaches us how to create simple yet stunning displays of flora to celebrate any style or season.”
—Gardens Illustrated

“A love letter to flowers, from hardworking tips to more romantic notions.”
—Flower Magazine, Our Favorite Books of the Year

“The book is somehow even MORE Beautiful than I could have imagined. . . . It’s perfect. From the typography to the layout to the guides, it’s impeccable. . . . It’s a book for flower lovers and people who didn’t even know they are flower lovers. Only read it if you’re willing to escape from your current world for a bit.”
—The House that Lars Built

“Merrick's first book—a love story to flowers, and finding beauty in the humblest of places—is a composite of journals, lists, practical advice, and photographs and illustrations of both plain and fancy blooms and greens. . . . This is as much to be experienced as to be read.”
—Booklist, starred review
 
“This opulent, scrapbook-style gift book . . . will inspire creativity in some, and envy in others. . . . Seductive.”
—Publishers Weekly
 

From the Publisher