In January, I received an email from an NYBG Special Events Coordinator inquiring whether I’d be interested in designing a table for this year’s Orchid Dinner. This is an annual fundraiser that supports the botanical gardens’ education, horticulture and global plant research. As a continuing education teacher of floral design for the gardens, how could I not participate!?
I had previously worked on other companies’ tables throughout my career, so I had some idea of the scope I was getting into here. Once I had confirmed participation, I received some guidelines - one about the weight limit, which was a surprise, given how large some tables can get - which got me thinking first about what my “mechanics” or base for the design would be.
Every year, an artist or artists are asked to design the Orchid Show in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory at the gardens in the Bronx. They come up with the theme, which flows throughout the displays of orchids from around the world. It is always a tropical treat while Winter still has the city in its grip, and I’ve enjoyed attending for multiple years now. This year’s artist, Mr. Flower Fantastic, has a style very different from mine; his work often features artificial or spray painted flowers, displayed in customized shapes such as the Mac apple logo, Nike sneakers, and more. But the theme - Concrete Jungle - “a love letter to the city,” as Vogue described it, was absolutely something I could get behind.
New York City is a vibrant, diverse town full of ethnicities the world over. It can be loud, challenging and often has elements to it that clash. But for all that, it is where my family and I call home. I grew up in Queens in a large family, with friends who were Haitian, Latin, Irish, Polish, Korean and a whoooole lot more. There were occasional glimpses of the hard side of the city in our youth, but it wasn’t until becoming adults, out in the city in our own rights, that we were faced with its much darker sides.
My brother, a NYC firefighter, saw some of the worst in the first few years serving the city. He went to a department-appointed therapist for help, who recommended he take up a creative outlet as a means of coping. He started with watercolor flowers, then also started writing people’s names in stylized graffiti. I have been so proud of my brother for taking care of his mental health, connecting with his emotions and acknowledging them, and for finding ways to continue to serve the city in a capacity that is meaningful to him. In a city that moves as fast as New York, it can happen all too quickly that we keep going and eventually crush under pressure. So it’s important to recognize and share the ways in which we can keep it a place to love and celebrate.
Long story long - after practical considerations, my immediate first idea was to ask my brother to graffiti an “NYC” to be incorporated into the design. We went through several iterations, and once I was painting those letters onto the largest of my plexiglass columns, I was PSYCHED. This was the backbone of my design. Just on its own, it is a nod to art and self-expression in this city, be it rebellious, funky, cool, transgressive, endorsed - graffiti is part of New York’s lifeblood as much as the Big Apple, possibly even more so, because it comes from the people, not a polished marketing campaign.
Having this element in my design gave it a grit that juxtaposed the sleekness of chic orchids, the bold lines of tropical foliage and the clean, sharp edges of plexiglass columns. It was an acknowledgement of my family bonds, so much part of my experience of living here, impossible to separate them from my journey or identity.
This is all to signal the personal significance of the work. Perhaps in future dinners, I may design something oriented toward different goals. But for my first year, (potentially even my only year - who knows what the future will bring,) what an HONOR it is to celebrate the people and city I love.
