We’ve seen modernism before.What is different about the modernism of today?
It isn’t Asian. Asian design gives the immediate impression of being off-center. Then, when studying the design, the intricacy in how that impression was created becomes obvious. It’s a technique that manipulates the rules. Today’s modernism is very much centered left-right, and texture wins out over geometry. The other big difference is the strength of the architecture, which isn’t part of the Asian aesthetic.

Is it influenced by technology at all?
It is technological. The daisy form, nature’s primeval flower shape, is not used at all. What’s done today is head on head. You see no foliage and no airspace. That would never happen in nature. I have been more of a naturalist, but it’s been a great experience seeing where it’s going.

Is the new modern look here to stay?
Brides have a lot to say about that. They have accepted the new look, so it will probably stay for a long time. There are no cascade bouquets today, and the more elegant ones are small, single or duet, monochrome, white or off-white, or the slightest blush of color. But there’s always a relapse. Remember the Princess Di bouquet? It was extraordinarily expensive, and most brides didn’t go for the full effect, but it influenced everything. See one celebrity walk down the aisle with a cascade, and brides will be calling for them again.

We’re continuing to see a lot of monochromatic design?
Everyone does it—everyone has been doing it. I think the difference is the striking intensity possible now. The containers are changing; it’s all square glass or rectangular, everything for a modern venue. If it is ceramic, it’s an unexpected pitch of color. It’s not grey; it’s gunmetal. Then the flower has to be equal to the container.

It sounds like hybrids are playing a significant role? What about the basic red rose?
The basic red rose is no longer the basic red rose. It’s 16 varieties, each with a specific look and feel. It helps create all these textures. If you want rich, dark tones, it can happen today where it couldn’t before. When I say burgundy, well, get ready, because the shades available are amazing.

Are there other particular flowers that lend themselves to this style?
The orchid family is pretty large, but we use a lot of cymbidiums; the colors they come in are incredible. There’s a color connection with everything. It’s based on mono- to duotone in one family. Amaryllis: It has tremendous hybridized colors, shapes, and forms— many more than even five years ago. Hydrangea: It even looks like fabric; one feels something just looking at it. If these are kept at the top of the list, you’re already in a venue that demands a certain high-style creation. Calla lily: Huge amounts today. Not so much the big old-fashioned white—now there are 15 colors of hybrids from almost black eggplant to creamy white, burgundies, pinks, three or four orange shades, yellows, even a two-tone cream with the outside edge tinged in burgundy. And they’re all different sizes, much smaller than the big whites. We just did a display with all curved calla lilies.

It sounds like there are new techniques to match? Describe them.
Today’s flowers are not presented like anything familiar. Whatever you grew up with, it’s gone. The flower is bent and curved. To do this, they can’t be overhydrated. The vase is most likely rectangular or square. Picture a strikingly out-of-proportion rectangle. Then place six of them on a table in all different sizes fitting together like a geometric puzzle. And, instead of shooting in the air, the flowers almost hug the neck with striking foliage in curves and twists. It’s partly science, partly architecture, and, when stepping away, it still must make a meaningful floral statement.

Are there any other exciting effects?
There’s a gel invented for use in watering plants. It holds the water longer in container gardening by locking the water in as the soil dries out. That same gel mixed with water becomes a gelatin-like substance. Used clear by itself, it captures light. It can be dyed with dyes from Holland. It can be thick, thin, or medium in consistency. Things can be suspended from the top of a glass to the bottom. A stem might float inside the vase below, hang around the edge, be thrown around the bottom in individual florettes. It allows endless creativity. For example, for a New Year’s event, we stood four-foot tall vases on the counter filled with clear gel with pearls floating through it. Then we suspended big chips of gold glitter, matching the gold cloth with an arrangement of gold cymbidium orchids.

Give examples of hotel approaches.
We do the Waldorf=Astoria. When walking through the lobby, you see classical communications. We provide a look that is in line with the more traditional décor. But the Ritz- Carlton downtown [Battery Park] is more modern, and there we do striking architectural designs in the lobby and public spaces. There are always corporate executives who practically have their name on a room; our arrangements get placed where we can dazzle them. We design for corporate banquet clients, even out-of-towners who want a classically New York avant-garde florist, someone who’s been here and knows New York design. The new design requires a lot of architecture. It can’t just be pre-assembled at the shop and delivered. A lot has to be done at the hotel and assembled on the tables.

What do you see looking forward?
Not so much a flower store as a design concept flower emporium. Nothing is a grandma’s bouquet. It might be pushing the mental envelope a bit, but one day in the future we might see the flower brought to the edge of instant accessibility. In our new world, tempering volume with striking simplicity, we will design “nature’s bounty” with true human appreciation.