Special Delivery
office spoke with Mr. Flower Fantastic about the party, Miami Vice and pop-up books.
Tell me about your work and the piece you debuted at the Jordan event.
Jordan and Soulfly reached out and asked if I would be interested in collaborating on their project—it was the release of an Art Basel Jordan One, inspired by Miami colors. I like to say that the Jordan One for me is what the Campbell's Soup can is for Andy Warhol. I'm just really passionate about sneaker culture, and this specific shoe was the shoe that really started it all. If you're familiar with sneaker culture and its origins, the Jordan One means a lot to a lot of different people—not just the design, but what it stands for. When Michael wore that shoe, they didn't want him to wear it for a multitude of reasons, but he loved it so much that he wore it anyway, and for a lot of people, that was a very powerful moment.
When was that?
That was like 1985 or '86. Michael Jordan is for many people, and for me, a hero, and I wanted to definitely do something that would be very special. It was also my very first time at Art Basel and in Miami—sometimes the universe just speaks in very specific ways, and it's up to you whether or not you choose to connect the dots. I felt like the dots were definitely connecting in a way that I couldn't say no. The presentation was great—I'm known on Instagram for doing these things called ‘special deliveries,' which are my bouquet drops. After I'm finished with an arrangement, I generally just leave it in a public space and it's kind of like my offering to humanity. Flowers bring peace. Flowers bring love.
And do you always use live flowers?
Always, always.
Where you trained as a florist?
No, I wasn't. As a matter of fact, it was quite the opposite in many cases. I spent a lot of time in the garden with my mom as a kid. I was an only child, and I grew up in Queens, New York. My mom had a beautiful garden in our front yard—I mean it wasn't much, but for her, it might as well have been the Garden of Eden, she took such good care of it. When I was growing up, it was kind of hard—other kids didn't really understand that type of behavior, or that kind of hobby. But it was my beginning—it was something she instilled in me at a very young age.
Funnily enough, though, when I was a kid, I suffered from allergies. It wasn't until later on in life that I did some allergy tests and finally came to realize that a lot of the time I was sick as a kid was because I spent a lot of time in the garden. I'm allergic to many of the florals that I work with—I’m even allergic to grass.
So, it's almost like an act of self-annihilation or torture to do your work.
It definitely is challenging—I'm in a place that I'm not necessarily supposed to be biologically, but spiritually it's fulfilling in so many ways. I think one of the most special things that I take away from this is that people have said that because of my allergies and because I am committed to continuing to develop this craft, it's turning my weakness into strength, and I find that very motivating.
Flowers were often something I ran to when I was in a bad mood or just wanted to lift my spirits—it didn't matter what went on in my life, if I had fresh flowers around I would immediately feel better. It wasn't my intention to get famous because of them—it was strictly just to do something different. I just wanted it to exist and it wasn't going to make itself, so I figured I'd give it a try.
How did you make the connection to sneakers? Is that what you're known for—the sneaker floral arrangements?
It’s the latest series that's gaining the most attention at the moment. When I first started, I started doing an emoji series that really helped to shape my identity and give me the skillset—it was oftentimes very challenging, but it was great training for me and created a lot of conversation. I guess it was just a natural progression in my idea of self-discovery. I wanted to fill a lot of the wounds I had as a kid growing up in Queens—growing up in the quote-unquote ‘hood,’ you met with a lot of challenges and—I don't want to necessarily say negativity—but it was confusion. I wanted to do something with this newfound love that I had for creating flower arrangements—I wanted to see if I could get to a level that could possibly exist where I could put in front of those kids that were mean to me, an arrangement that they would like.
It's almost like you were trying to connect with a former enemy, or trying to bridge a gap in your life.
Absolutely. That was definitely a motivator for doing something like this. At the same time, it kind of fell into place naturally because I love sneakers, I love hip-hop culture, I grew up in it. Everything I make I have a personal connection with, and I’m super grateful to have been embraced by the hip-hop community.
I'm curious about the actual way you got into flower arranging—did your mom arrange flowers? Or was it just an idea and you went with it?
There's lots of things I've done in life that have led me to this moment. I've always been really creative. I used to make pop-up cards when I was a kid, and I used to be really into Legos.
We are totally twinsies! I used to do both of those things—I love pop-up books, where you can move the little tab and things like that.
Absolutely. When I was a kid, I used to get in trouble because I would go to the library and rip up all of the pop-up books, not because I wanted to destroy them, but because I wanted to see how they worked. My mom would always buy me two of them—one I could destroy and create, and another one I could still have.
I love that. You should do a pop-up book!
I used to do camp counseling a lot and that was a great activity I used to do with kids. But with flowers, I guess it was just a product of my environment. My mother wasn't a florist but when I tell you she loved flowers, and gardening, and plants, it was like to another level, and that's all I knew as a kid. It was also her way of keeping me close, and a great bonding experience for us—I don't think that's something that will ever leave me.
What do you do to combat the allergies? Do you take pills or wear gloves?
I used to take pills—it would work, but it would make me really lethargic, so I stopped doing that. At the moment, I always use gloves and I always wear a surgical mask, and that's how I developed my persona. Gloves are mandatory for me to use, but there came a time when I was working on my social media page and it was a great identity to create, and at the same time, I didn't really want to show my face. It wasn't that I was hiding—it was more that I wanted people to just look at the art. The art shouldn’t be about what I look like or what I don't look like or who I am or who I'm not—it should be appreciated for what it is.
There was a time when it started gaining some momentum, I got a call from Serena Williams’ team—she was in town in Queens for the US Open and they asked if I would like to come meet her, and when I met her I could see why the world really loves her, and yes she's talented, yes she's incredibly dedicated and brilliant at what she does, but there's just an energy about her that's really regal. When I met her, I was inspired to do something really special for her championship match. I would have to present this arrangement to her and I didn't know how I would do it because I had never really shown anything other than my hands before, and I had to figure out a way I could keep the integrity of the art and at the same time be present in the moment. I wanted to really make a statement, and I have a lot of friends who do graffiti, and we all talked about it and the impact it would have, and we talked a lot about a lot of different options. I have this friend of mine who is an incredible graffiti artist and he let me borrow his mask. He said, 'Just wear this if you can't find anything else.; And that's how it happened—the persona with the mask.
It almost feels ceremonial—it's like a uniform or a habit—and the way you present them as an ‘offering,’ there's this sense of ceremonial drama. Like with the Jordan party—you came in on a speedboat, right?
It was a moment that I'll never forget: I came in on, I believe it's called a VanDutch speedboat—it was gorgeous. Like I said, I’m known for doing special deliveries, so I really wanted to do a very iconic delivery, especially because it was Miami—the whole Miami Vice thing was a really big inspiration for the piece. So, we pulled up to the house on a boat and this helicopter was circling overhead and they lowered down the arrangement to me in the boat—if we were going to do it, we just had to commit, you know? It was a really cool thing, man, when you're presenting a sneaker of this caliber—well, not a sneaker, but my recreation of the sneaker, but this caliber of a moment, I believe it requires nothing but the best. At the end of the day, you have to cut through a lot of things, especially in those types of environments, people are having a good time and drinking, and then to take a moment to shift the energy to something like flowers—it was totally iconic.
Photos courtesy of the artist.