Coast to Coast: Raised by a family of gardeners in upstate New York, Nicolette Owen has always been surrounded by flora. “I was brought up in the garden,” she says. “I learned about flowers from a very young age.” After studying fine arts at Sarah Lawrence College, she embarked on a career in photography before deciding to pursue floral design. A soulsearching photography trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, led to a move to Northern California, where she began working with florists in the Bay Area. “As soon as I started working full time [there], where I had my hands in flowers every day, learning their personalities, I felt very much at home,” she recalls. She moved back to the East Coast in 2006 and started her own business, Nicolette Camille Floral Design, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Domino Effect: Upon her return to New York, Owen parlayed both of her passions into a freelance job at Domino, working in the magazine’s photo department and styling flowers. “Freelance [work] gives me the flexibility to take on events and focus on flowers, as well,” she says. “It’s been a nice meeting of both worlds.” At Domino’s 2007 Bazaar at Skylight—a four-day mix of shopping and seminars—she taught attendees how to arrange bouquets. “Nicolette’s class was one of the most popular at the bazaar. She brought her talent, creativity, and amazing attitude, as she always does, and taught lots of people how to arrange high-style flowers easily and quickly,” says the magazine’s special events manager, Michelle Rubel. “She is much like a bouquet of flowers—beautiful, sweet, and happy. Best of all, she is open to anything.”
Fresh and Wild: Owen focuses on peak-season blossoms and nontraditional foliage. She sources her blooms from the Chelsea Flower Market, as well as from her parents’ upstate home. “I’m inspired by flowers growing naturally. I like my work to look unfussy,” she says. For a private event at Aurora restaurant in Brooklyn, Owen was inspired by the location’s elegantly rustic ambience and opted for a palette of whites and greens with earthy touches of deep burgundy and brown. She tied the look together with white bleeding hearts, which she says added a surprising, wildflower-like touch. “Usually you can find one last element that is unexpected that makes everything work,” she says.
New Growth: Although she has worked mostly on private events so far, Owen aims to expand her business into the corporate world. “I hope to branch out fully and focus on getting more weekly clients,” she says. “I love sharing flowers with other people and being able to create something beautiful based on a vision that is theirs and mine combined.”
