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The Art of Floral Fakery
photos by Roy Gumpel


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"This book is not about fake anything, it's about real design." So say Richard Kollath and Ed McCann, editors at Country Living magazine, about their new book, Faux Flowers. And, they're right. While the book focuses on using what is sometimes called "permanent foliage" to bring grace into an environment, it's really about simple, solid ways of looking at color and shape in floral design. The fact that the medium is man-made is, ultimately, not of consequence.

"I was in Pier 1 to buy materials for a job and a shipment of faux peonies came in. I couldn't get over how quickly people were buying them, and then I wondered what they would do with them when they got them home." Kollath explains. "When Chronicle Books approached us, wanting a book to address the hip-urban-post-collegiate-first-apartment-decorating market, I realized that this was a good opportunity to teach the principles and components of good floral design." His point clearly being, that if they were going to buy silk flowers anyway, they might as well know what to do with them. The result is a guide for anyone who wants to arrange flowers, real or manufactured.

Kollath identifies two main influences on the growing popularity of silk flowers. The first is that manufacturing technology has changed to allow the production of tremendously life-like flowers. While fake flowers used to perch unnaturally atop wire wrapped with green paper, they now mimic the real thing. Sunflowers have fuzzy stems, orchids display the most delicate blossoms, and paper-white lilies stretch out of their bulbs all year long. Many of the new faux flowers even do fine when placed in a vase with water. These days, petals are made in nature's colors (no more blue roses and mauve daisies) and can be manipulated to give each blossom a different "age".

While everything is carefully explained in the text, the aim was to make a book that would be useful even if one only looked at the photographs. Kollath shows budding designers how to open up a flower or two to give it a little authority, bend a stem to create the desired shape, or even pull a couple of petals off and drop them near the arrangement for the full natural effect. He says that the main trick to a good faux arrangement is to make it unique, with an eye to nature.

The second factor in the growing presence of faux flora is today's never-ending quest to make life a little less complicated. "Fresh flowers can be intimidating. They're expensive, often frustrating to work with, and the arrangements sometimes last only a few days. Then you wonder what the point was," says Kollath. He sees silk flowers as the ideal accessory for the person who wants to live in an attractive environment but just doesn't have the time to fuss with flowers. Once they're done, faux arrangements need little maintenance: perhaps an occasional dusting; some can even be rinsed lightly, but mostly they need to be re-arranged periodically to keep things "fresh". They're the ideal undemanding home accessory for someone who's just got too much going on.

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Kollath's credentials as a floral designer are impeccable: He grew up working in his family's floral business and has designed floral arrangements and other environmental elements for private and corporate clients around the world. The instructional aspects of this book came easily to him as he has a background as a university teacher and does frequent design and decorating demonstrations on television.

He and writer Ed McCann are used to working together on design projects. Together they planned and outlined the book, sourced flowers, foliage, containers, and locations, and roughed out ideas for the arrangements.

Much of the actual writing was done as the arrangements were photographed, over a period of only about three weeks. Fortunately, McCann is familiar with tight deadlines and space constraints; writing news and commercial copy for television developed his ability to use only as many words as necessary. Creating instructional materials for the Culinary Institute of America, as well as numerous articles for national magazines, has clearly honed his "how-to" skills.

Kollath and McCann had worked with High Falls resident Roy Gumpel on magazine editorial and advertising shoots and knew his ability to visualize what they wanted. They also were attracted to the idea of working with a neighbor (they live in Gardiner), knowing it would result in fewer complications on a project that relies so thoroughly on marrying the visual with the concept and the words.

Gumpel says he actually finds silk flowers much easier to shoot than real ones-they can be arranged exactly as needed to suit the light and shadow requirements. Re-shoots are much simpler, as it's never impossible to re-create the arrangement. In fact, all three contributors agreed that during the photography process none of them ever said, "If only they were real."

Gumpel's photographs are so rich with texture and color, it's obvious that he approached the arrangements with a complete lack of prejudice toward their provenance. He likes to shoot with as little equipment as possible, using the environment and sunlight to add to the natural appearance of the flowers. The end result is lovely. When leafing through the book it's easy to forget that the pictures are not of real flowers.

Kollath, McCann, and Gumpel are quick to credit the Hudson Valley as a critical player in the book. Their agent, Emma Sweeney, weekends in Dutchess County, many of the containers are from local sources, and almost all of the photographs were taken locally.

The three contributors expressed the importance of b eing part of the continuum of artists who have come to the Hudson Valley for generations. At first it seems puzzling that people who clearly cherish the nature that surrounds them would devote their energies to such a project. On reflection, it is actually that love of nature's splendor that makes the book work so well.

They don't apologize for working with a man-made product. In fact they express pride in the ideas and methods their book provides for people who don't have the luxury of a cutting garden out the back door.
After all, the only thing that seems to be missing is the smell.

-Amanda Bader