1. To Bloom
Project: To Bloom
Type: Editorial
Year: 2022 - 2023
Flowers hold an inherent beauty, serving as a source of inspiration for humanity since time immemorial. Flowers are alive; they tell stories—each petal and stem suggesting a memory, a deep connection, a feeling. My mother’s love for flowers and ability to create beauty in any space alongside them has shaped who I am.
To Bloom is an ode to my mother, utilizing a collection of self-produced photographic floral expressions to explore the delicate mother-daughter relationship and my upbringing through themes of growth, transformation, beauty, and self-reflection. The creation of this book fostered a new understanding of lighting, form, and photography and brought the delicate beauty and limitations of flowers themselves into sharper focus. Like flowers, beauty is fleeting. It begs to be captured and admired.
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001cTo Bloom has inspired an ongoing creative venture into floral photography. The photographic journey began in the first semester of senior year at Parsons through scanography experiments and D.I.Y. Ikebana arrangements, ultimately leading to a collection of photographic expressions.
The typographic contrast between Optima and Altesse communicates the duality between delicateness and structure that flowers possess. Like a photo book, the compositions allow the photos to speak for themselves. Each of the three chapter openers in the book, printed on vellum pages, are a nod to the soft touch of petals, also allowing a distinct divider for the three categories: Nature Nurture, Efflorescence, and Blossoming.
“Floral design is about using what you have to the best of your ability within your time constraints and the limitation of the plants before you. It’s about not knowing where you will end up.”
Christian Geall
I. Nature Nurture - My mother would always turn to flowers to make the places we lived feel like home. She has always had a unique skill of cultivating beauty and comfort in any space. Through my own photographic expressions, I aim to reflect on my mother’s love for flowers and to explore my own personal connections between flora, form, and expression.
II. Efflorescence - Efflorescence ef-luh-res-uhns noun 1. The action or process of developing an unfolding as if coming into flower; fullness of manifestation : culmination 2. The period or state of flowering.
III. Blossoming -Every now and then, my mom liked to remind me to “Grow and be beautiful.” It was a line from a children’s poem we once read together. There are many definitions of beautiful, but for me, I always knew she was encouraging me to evolve into myself and to be confident within that process. At any and every stage of life we are beautiful, and the process of growth and change throughout life is something I aim to embrace.
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Printed at Parsons Design Lab.
II. Efflorescence - Efflorescence ef-luh-res-uhns noun 1. The action or process of developing an unfolding as if coming into flower; fullness of manifestation : culmination 2. The period or state of flowering.
III. Blossoming -Every now and then, my mom liked to remind me to “Grow and be beautiful.” It was a line from a children’s poem we once read together. There are many definitions of beautiful, but for me, I always knew she was encouraging me to evolve into myself and to be confident within that process. At any and every stage of life we are beautiful, and the process of growth and change throughout life is something I aim to embrace.
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Printed at Parsons Design Lab.
︎︎︎ 9 x 12 in.
︎︎︎ Self-made cloth hardcover, perfect bound.
︎︎︎ Fonts: Altesse, Optima, Romie by Margot Lévêque