Brand Client Feature | Juniper Flowers| Seattle, WA
It’s day two of my weeklong “meet the florist” series in celebration of the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday and hopes to steer you into shopping local this year for your flowers on the new LORA Bloom online floral marketplace or through your local florist directly.
Today I’d love for you to meet Jean Louise Paquin Allen of Juniper Flowers. Yes! She goes by all four names! Juniper Flowers is a boutique floral shop located in Fremont and provides delivery to the Greater Seattle Area, including the Eastside and Mercer Island. They create floral art for everything from everyday flowers, to weddings, to corporate events, and they even host workshops!
The company was founded with the main principle to enhance and enliven the hearts, homes, and businesses of people in our area. Juniper Flowers's mission is to create tangible products to reflect memories of a moment in time; easing someone's pain, welcoming new life, mourning lives lost, celebrating milestones and holidays. -I love this. Flowers truly are emotional.
Jean Louise and I met on Instagram about a year ago, but it wasn’t until the LORA Bloom partner mini branding session event last month that we actually got to meet in person…and work together! On the day of our mini shoot, Jean Louise brought along her associate, Charmaine. They were my first session of the day and they got the day started off with a lot of fun and laughter. Charmaine served as Jean Louise’s behind-the-scenes hype man during our shoot – she was also pulling up pics of the handsome Adam Driver to get Jean Louise to relax, smile, and laugh. Loved this! I know that getting our pics taken doesn’t always come naturally, so I fully support their creative ways to lighten the mood.
Speaking of moods, the variety of floral designs she offers suits any mood you’re in. One of her best-sellers is the “Dark & Sexy” design (pictured below.) Customers have said that they love the deep rich jewel tones of this design – with a ruby red, eggplant, plum, purple, and fuchsia color palette and the textural florals used, it’s hard to think of a more fitting name for this design.
Juniper Flowers also creates tons of other textural, unique, and artful arrangements. Jean Louise’s favorite flower to work with is the ranunculus except when peonies come into season! She explained to me that both of these flowers have a high petal count and are pretty in all stages of their bloom cycle. And despite having light and delicate petals, both these flower types are quite long-lasting and come in beautiful colors that change slightly upon opening. She loves them for their similarities, but the Red Charm Peony always steals her heart come Springtime.
With Valentine’s Day officially one week away from today, I asked Jean Louise if she has any advice, she could lend to us consumers and she mentioned that she loves it when her customers order early! (You’ll want to get your order in by 5 PM on 2/13 for delivery on Valentine’s day.) She and her team had to order their flowers a month (or more) before Valentine's Day and have picked out the most beautiful blooms available. They understand V-day is an important day and they do their best to make their customers happy, but they ask that you be open to their suggestions too as some flowers are just not available or may not be in best condition to work with at this time.
And when it comes to Jean Louise, you should have no problem trusting her suggestions. She graduated from Massachusetts College of Art & Design with a BFA in Painting and soon afterward realized flowers were the palette she’d been looking for! So, when you are investing in a floral design from Juniper Flowers (and many other florists too), you are not only paying for the flowers, but you are likely paying for someone’s education in art along with their experience and expertise. I know firsthand that Jean Louise, and all the florists I have worked with, aren’t just grabbing a bundle of flowers and throwing them into a vase filled with water to sell to you. They are putting lots of thought and design elements into their work to produce something that is gorgeous and full of life for you to enjoy and admire.
I want to give a big thanks to Jean Louise for allowing me to help capture a little piece of her brand and products to share with you on the new LORA Bloom site and her own website refresh. And I can’t stress it enough, people - please check out both LORA Bloom and Juniper Flowers and support local this V-day and all special occasions moving forward. When you purchase local there is an actual person on the other end doing a happy dance. 😊
P.S. If you’re looking for a fun experience to go along with your V-day flowers, you can find Juniper Flowers hosting a pop-up shop at Theo Chocolate on Valentine’s Day from 11 AM to 5 PM. They’ll be offering hand-tied bouquets and mini build-your-own bouquet wraps and I’m sure you won’t have any problems picking up some chocolates to go with your flowers.
You can also check out Jean Louise’s work as a participating florist in LORA Bloom the Fleurs de Villes display at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show later this month. The LORA Bloom team is working on creating a stunning floral art design that you won’t want to miss!
Oh, and one last thing - tomorrow I’ll be featuring Maura Wahlen from Casablanca Floral based in Seattle. Stay tuned!
Happy Friday!
Missy