Flower Market: Botanical Style at Home by Michelle Mason is all about styling with flowers. Particularly, it’s about using reclaimed or vintage objects to display your seasonal blooms.
Columbia Road flower market is on the doorstep of Michelle Mason’s vintage shop, Mason & Painter. Hence the lovely pairing of fresh flowers and reclaimed display props. As the title suggests, the book supports shopping locally, often direct from the grower, at the market.
“On my doorstep every Sunday I see customers experience the pleasure of buying flowers directly from the grower or trader to be carried, wrapped in paper, back home. The appeal is the story behind the encounter and the pleasure of decorating a corner of a room with fresh flowers.”
Michelle Mason
*This post contains an affiliate link. Roomy Home was given a copy of this book by the publishers, with no obligation to review.
Who is Michelle Mason?
Michelle Mason is a designer and shopkeeper. She’s the co-founder of London vintage store, Mason & Painter. This book is inspired by Mason’s proximity to Colombia Road flower market.
As a designer, Mason has created products for the British Library, Transport for London and House of Fraser.
You can find Michelle Mason on Instagram here.
What’s in Flower Market?
The book is usefully organised, cataloguing floral inspiration firstly by season (great for shopping local or growing your own), then by colour.
The second half of the book then offers styling tips for displaying plants and flowers at home, as well as a section on arranging your blooms.
The biggest inspiration for me in this book was how to create combinations of flowers and props that work together.
The section on styling by colour is also particularly useful. Mason shows how to layer up hues using objects that tone with your blooms.
For example, this page shows the pinks and sea-blues of vintage maps paired up with tonal glass bottles, sugar tins and hyacinths.
Petal power: the best takeaways from Flower Market?
The best takeaway for me from Flower Market is that the author reveals the skilled art of layering. Not just blooms alone, but vintage books, fabric and leaves, with props like ribbons and keys, to create a beautiful vignette.
And I’ve already drawn on Mason’s step-by-step visual guide to creating a statement floral display.
What can interior addicts learn from Flower Market?
If you fear you’re becoming immune to the charm of beautiful blooms from Instagram overdose, this is a great book to reawaken your appreciation. The photography is exquisite and the colour combinations a treat.
It’s also a great reminder that flowers demand display on a larger scale than a small screen can offer.
However if you also love styling up your blooms for photographs (yes even for social media), then this is also perfect eye-candy, because each intricately styled vignette in the book has some new idea to offer.
Peonies in a vintage tea-caddy? Dramatic and doable.
Anemones in a supersized teacup? Effortlessly whimsical.
Flower Market is a book I’m going to return to again and again when styling up flowers at home. In fact, I’ll be flicking the pages any time my mind needs a hit of glorious colour. You’ve probably heard how looking at nature, even through a window or via a photograph, can do all kinds of positive things to your mind? I suspect this book could serve the same purpose, as the photography is just so joyous.
Need a copy now?
Flower Market: Botanical Style at Home by Michelle Mason (£20, Pimpernel Press).
Click the cover image to find out more.
