studio rien: early bird ✨flower party✨ tickets!, april holidays, and the glory of chocolate

welcoming spring in every way

Happy spring, my kittens! We made it, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the beautiful start. Saturday’s pop up with Tintorería and Kordal was a total dream — a blur of old friends and new friends, neighbors and strangers, all hanging together, making bouquets and eating cake, trying on beautiful clothes, smiling at blooms, cups of tea everywhere, sunny windows, dogs bounding up. I am so grateful for all of you who came by to drink bubbly and celebrate the start to spring, and can’t wait for all the beauty ahead.

✨Flower Party✨ — adding a new date by demand!

Whew, crew, we sold out April’s ✨Flower Party✨ in record time and I’ve heard from a bunch of you asking to be added to the waitlist. Well, we’re going to do one better than that: I’m adding in a second spring ✨Flower Party✨ on Saturday, May 13th, from 11am - 1pm. As always, newsletter subscribers get first dibs… so have at ‘em before I share out more broadly later this week! Tickets here.

…and maybe think about hosting your own private affair?

I’m spending today prepping for a private ✨Flower Party✨ this weekend! A birthday girl and twelve friends, flowering and then cocktail-ing, what could be more celebratory? If you’re interested in gathering up a group (usually 8 - 14 people is a nice size) whether for a bridal shower, birthday, work event, or just because… reach out! You bring the friends, I bring the workshop! 

flowers for all the spring occasions

My sweet fam celebrated Navroz this week, with patrani mucchi (fish with green chutney, wrapped and steamed) and a polenta chocolate olive oil cake. With Ramadan, Passover, and Easter in the mix, this time of year is full of gatherings for many of us. Brighten up your tables and cheer grannies and neighbors alike with a festive arrangement. Order here.

around the studio:

sweet thing: I had long admired Casa Bosques’ beautiful chocolate bars but it wasn’t until a trip to CDMX where we visited their art mag store in Roma Norte (attached to what look like the most serenely beautiful rental apartments) that I went full ham. My quickly eaten stash included flavors like preserved lemon, neri goma, and cacao shell, and they were everything chocolate should be: thoughtful, deeply conscious of their origins, and stupidly delicious. // covers of radicchio red: Jill Lepore’s recent piece is a glorious ode to the charms and absurdities of old fashioned seed catalogues: “a magical, boozy, Jack-and-the-beanstalk promise: the coming of spring, the rapture of bloom, the fleshy, wet, watermelon-and-lemon tang of summer.” // shine on: Back in pre-C times (pre-covid, pre-child) I always had my nails done. Since then things have deteriorated, and while I take some pride in the dirt that ends up there (flowers! earth!), I do miss those days. But a few years in, I have finally found the answer: J.Hannah’s akoya. A shimmery pale gold that allows for haphazard application but still feels done up. // find your angle: When making an arrangement, it can be helpful to know how it will be displayed — will it be viewed from all sides, 360 on the kitchen table, or just one side, if against a wall? Based on that, you can decide where to focus your energy (and precious flowers!). // the never ending dilemma: Dinner this time of year can be rough as the wait for fresh produce continues (asparagus, can you hear me?). Enter white fish with green olives, orange, and confit potatoes. Multiple steps, but all can be done while simultaneously drawing a picture of an octopus and turning down Sesame Street. // unconfirmed: That said, rumors of green garlic at NY greenmarkets abound… maybe fresh times are actually ahead?

xo, and one more time with feeling, happy spring! freyan

ps did someone forward you this little note?