ABOUT

i was born in the middle of ohio in the middle of the ‘60s. i grew up there and lexington kentucky, with brief escapes to the mountains of tennessee, north carolina and the coast of maine. after studying printmaking at risd and earning a semi useless degree in marketing, i moved to california during the el nino of 1997/98. five days later i began working at chez panisse, having little to no idea of the power of the transformative community i'd entered. i continued my education of californian culture and beauty working closely with erica tanov. i then went on to open august, a seminal and before its time fashion, art, and community hub. august was an early proponent of the intersection of luxury apparel and green socially responsible textile practices. i lost my business during the worldwide economic crash of 2008/09, and returned to my lifelong love of foraged and gleaned floral work. this has been my recent medium of choice, followed closely by monotypes.

i consider all of california my home and currently live in ojai. i've created floral installations for vivienne westwood, john baldesarri, todd selby, michael pollan, alice waters, rintaro, and carolyn murphy for vogue and house beautiful. my floral work has been featured in a number of national and international magazines and media, including vogue, nowness, c magazine, cabana, edible selby, remodelista, bare journal, sunset magazine and the los angeles times.

my first book, foraged flora (ten speed press/random house) was released in october, 2016. the hardcover is now in its 5th printing with international sales and has been translated into Mandarin.