NEW YORK—French liqueur brand St-Germain appreciates a good floral display. In 2019, for example, the company built a floating, 12-ton elderflower meadow inside a Brooklyn warehouse (yes, it’s as cool as it sounds), while a 2018 event drew inspiration from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and Damned with a wild floral and feather installation and costumed staff offering drinks from the other side of oversized, elaborate French frames.
And this year, the elderflower liqueur took it even further with the inaugural Fleuriste St-Germain. Going beyond a pretty photo op, the space was part pop-up flower shop, part craft cocktail bar and part performance and discussion space. 
The pop-up was inspired by the original Parisian salons of the 1920s, and it was created in collaboration with fashion designer Laura Kim and American Ballet Theater dancer James Whiteside. “St-Germain works in perfect harmony when it comes together with others, so we wanted to showcase this part of our brand DNA through Fleuriste St-Germain, where fashion designers meet florists meet prima ballerinas meet mixologists,” explained brand director Stacy Belter-Saltiel.Photo: Benjamin Lozovsky
"The concept was to create an enchanting flower shop and cocktail bar pop-up for New Yorkers to spark joy and reconnection over a summer weekend through its floral installation and creative programming,” explained Stacy Belter-Saltiel, brand director of St-Germain, noting that the pop-up was inspired by the original Parisian salons of the 1920s, which arose after World War 1 and helped fuel the rise of artists like Hemingway, Picasso and F. Scott Fitzgerald. As New York begins to emerge from the pandemic, the brand wanted to celebrate and spotlight the city’s creative resurgence, and inspire connection and creativity through panel discussions, live ballet performances, takeaway floral bouquets and craft cocktails.
Popping up in New York’s SoHo neighborhood from Aug. 13-15, the free activation was the latest iteration of the brand’s Salon St-Germain series, which Belter-Saltiel says “enlists unexpected pairings of creative talent to collaborate on an experience or product inspired by the brand story or cocktail occasion.” Fleuriste St-Germain was created in collaboration with fashion designer Laura Kim and American Ballet Theater dancer James Whiteside. 
“James and Laura sat down for a fireside chat on the opening nights using questions inspired by philosopher Marcel Proust, where they discussed creativity, the arts, their ideas of happiness and more with their respective cocktails in hand,” said Belter-Saltiel.Photo: Benjamin Lozovsky
“We wanted to partner with two artistic visionaries from diverse fields—dancing and fashion design—who could both contribute different artful touches and perspectives into the space, thus creating a more dynamic, holistic pop-up experience for guests,” Belter-Saltiel said. “The duo was inspired by the joy of giving and receiving flowers, and up to 1,000 fresh, handpicked elderflower blossoms that go into every bottle of St-Germain. Thus, they helped envision a different kind of flower shop, or fleuriste as the French say, to reinterpret traditional French salons for the present day.”
That concept of unexpected pairings—evoking the idea that the liqueur can work in tandem with so many other cocktail ingredients—continued into the event’s programming, which ranged from a ballet performance from Whiteside that was inspired by the life of an elderflower to a fireside chat between him and Kim, where they answered questions inspired by the philosopher Marcel Proust. Other highlights include four craft cocktails designed to showcase the versatility of St-Germain, along with takeaway floral bouquets, fashion-forward staff masks designed by Kim, additional ballet performances every 30 minutes and more. Tin Can Studios handled floral design, while creative and experiential firm The Gathery handled event production.
“We created Fleuriste St-Germain with our target audience in mind,” added Belter-Saltiel. “They are people who don’t want to live an ordinary life—they are constantly searching for inspiration and creative ways to effortlessly elevate their lifestyle and shared moments with loved ones and community. Our latest activation reflects our ambition to bring a dash of inspiration and make cocktail occasions bloom.”
Scroll down to see more photos from the pop-up. 
“Our two collaborators each brought something unique and inspiring to Fleuriste St-Germain,” said Belter-Saltiel. “James performed an exclusive ballet performance on the two opening nights inspired by the life of an elderflower, weaving in and out amongst the crowd in the intimate space.”Photo: Benjamin Lozovsky
“Inspired by the up to 1,000 fresh elderflowers in each bottle of St-Germain, Laura designed the masks for staff, wrapping paper for the floral bouquets, and James’ beautiful ballet costume with an elderflower print and embroidered detail,” added Belter-Saltiel.Photo: Benjamin Lozovsky
Four craft cocktails were also available, each intending to showcase the versatility of the liqueur. St-Germain brand ambassador Earlecia Richelle was on-site to help serve the drinks.Photo: Benjamin Lozovsky
