Feb 4, 2010

Flower Lessons in Red HookBy Simone ShubuckTMagazine.Blogs.NYTimes.com

The Little Flower School in Brooklyn teaches people how to make their own arrangements. Sarah Ryhanen and Nicolette Owen discovered each other the way everyone does these days: online. Ryhanen owns Saipua, a flower shop in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where she also sells beautifully packaged soap made by her mother. (“Saipua” is Finnish for “soap.”) Owen runs her own Williamsburg-based flower biz focusing on private events. They are kindred spirits, who make stunning flower arrangements in the style of “Oh, these wild things I just cut out back?” Of course, the flowers are particularly chosen and arranged — and not cheap.

This past year, they decided to teach people how to make their own arrangements. The Little Flower School was born. Classes are held in a lofty workspace behind Saipua, which is the kind of salvaged, barn-wood-filled shop tucked behind a glass garage door that you just don’t find in Manhattan. Single-session classes, which last almost four hours, cost $250. Students take home the vase and arrangement they make, as well as a handsome pair of clippers.

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