Niki Osl

When a passion becomes a career

• Niki reintroduced flower crowns to high fashion
• She incorporates antique silk flowers in new creations
• One of her headdresses featured in Vogue

In Niki’s family, learning a trade in which she could work with her hands was a matter of course. Having been trained by her mother in different manual skills including sewing dolls, binding wreaths and making Christmas decorations, Niki decided to dedicate her life to the tradition of flower headdresses and garlands – after all, she had been collecting silk blossoms since her childhood. She acquired the first pieces relevant for her professional life at vintage fairs in New York and London. Today, she has the most extensive collection of vintage silk flowers in Europe. Restoring the old material is part of her craft. At the famous Viennese Opera Ball in 2015, each debutante held a bouquet of Niki’s flowers in her hand.

Interview

©All rights reserved

©All rights reserved

Do you feel lucky to have turned your passion into a career?

Absolutely. Creating charming pieces from vintage materials, especially from lovely silk flowers, has been my passion for many years. But there is much more to being an entrepreneur: creating and crafting as well as restoring, collecting, marketing etc. It means 14 hour working days, seven days a week – which is only possible if you love what you do.

Which feature of your craft surprises customers most?

People are often surprised by how much effort it is to find and restore every single silk blossom and combine them harmoniously. Every piece is unique. It is usually the most special moment of the job when I browse my archive with customers, trying to perfectly match my material with their old, personal pieces.

Why is your company called Miss Lilly?

Lilly is one of my cats I found in a refuse bin when she was a kitten. Animals, especially cats, are the love of my life and therefore I applied the name of my very special Miss Lilly for my company brand.

What are you most proud of?

It is usually the different ‘firsts’ that touch me most: when I saw one of my objects featured in Vogue for the first time, the first – and only – time Karl Lagerfeld reposted one of my pictures, the first time Lana del Rey wore my pieces on stage, and so on.

Niki Osl is an expert artisan she began her career in 2012

Works

©Jenni Koller

©Jenni Koller

©Jenni Koller

©Jenni Koller

©Jenni Koller

Where