Clémentine Lévy

Peonies

Flower designer | Bouère, France

Compositions partial to peonies

Clémentine is completely self-taught as a flower designer
The signature features of her work are contrasts and asymmetry
She draws inspiration from art and fashion

Clémentine Lévy composes floral arrangements as if they were paintings. After a career in modelling, she opened Peonies in 2016, a coffee and flower shop that was quite unique at the time. “I wanted to create an atypical and hybrid place. But soon enough, I discovered the joy of making bouquets,”Clémentine explains. When people started hiring her to arrange flowers for their events, the floral side of her business took over. She closed her Parisian shop, moved to the countryside with her family and became a full-time, self-taught flower designer. Since then, Clémentine has been growing her own seasonal flowers for her floral arrangements, which are exhibited at weddings, events, floral workshops and retreats.

Interview

©Veronique Chesnel

©Aline Caron

How would you define your style?: My style is a blend of fine art, romantic feel and edgy design. I love asymmetry and contrast, colour gradations and playing with depths and heights, as if my compositions were paintings. I draw my inspiration from fashion, interior design and art, constantly nurturing my creativity with images of all sorts.
What is your favourite flower to work with?: As suggested by the name of my studio, I am partial to peonies, especially to the itoh variety. I also like cherry caramel phlox, California poppies and fluffy garden roses. In general, I use seasonal flowers that I either grow or buy from local flower farms.
What is the best part of your practice?: Working as an event flower designer not only means arranging flowers, but also creating a project from scratch. I love telling a story from start to finish and seeing how all the pieces fall into place on that one special day.
How do you combine tradition and innovation?: I often draw from the past when using devices like kenzans, or flower frogs, typical of traditional Japanese ikebana. But in general, I feel that modern flower design has evolved a lot. Today, artists tend to have a different, more virtuous approach to flowers, for the sake of the environment.

Clémentine Lévy is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2015 and she started teaching in 2018