Bringing nature into the home: world tour of top floral artists

Run by Ikuko Yamashita and her husband Keishi Miyahara, Tsubaki - named after Yamashita's beloved camellia flower - is not a shop, but a studio that ships selected seasonal plants, with a letter advising the recipient of ways to arrange them themselves (from €45 plus shipping). This season, deliveries include Chinese persimmon, boreal chrysanthemum and clematis infructescences. The atelier is also known for its large-scale botanical compositions, which boast fans such as Gucci and Loewe: the highlight is Oyama - a hanging biotope composed of Japanese native plants collected over six months and a small pond in which killifish and cobita swim (tsubaki-tokyo.jp).

CASTOR FLEURISTE, Paris

Louis-Géraud Castor made his name trading in French Art Deco antiques for twenty years. Today, he creates floral compositions for the most discerning clients in Paris, from designer Alexandre de Betak to Hermès and Gagosian. He has a special talent for combining flowers in simple and surprising pictorial combinations, and is not afraid to mix unusual flowers with more overused ones, picked at the perfect moment to make them last: in one of his recent creations, one could see coral-like wavy celosias combined with newly bloomed peonies in the same shade of fuchsia. She also gives great advice on containers and sells her arrangements with vases made by potters such as Mathilde Martin, which can also be hired on request (castorfleuriste.com).

EMILY THOMPSON, New York

Esteemed New York-based florist Emily Thompson, who has collaborated on Jason Wu and Ulla Johnson's fashion shows and cultivated spaces for the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Frick Collection, originally studied sculpture and it shows in her gravity-defying compositions that seem to float, topple and roll over surfaces. Influenced by Constance Spry, Thompson's work favours natural, seasonal flowers that she sources from a network of growers and gatherers on the East Coast. From large-scale floral shows to small bouquets for town hall weddings, her arrangements can be ordered directly from her studio located in downtown Manhattan (from €215, emilythompsonflowers.com).

THE FLOWER STAND, Notting Hill

With its pale green façade and pink sign, Adam Bolton's elegant flower stall is one of the best in west London. "For a moment we thought about building a modern stall, but we realised we wanted something that captured the spirit of the area," says Bolton, who last year took over with his wife this corner that had been open for 30 years in Notting Hill. They favour British-grown flowers when they are in season and their customers range from neighbourhood dwellers with budgets around €23 to those looking for huge bouquets of fresh flowers to decorate their homes every week. "I like to think I can make everyone happy. That's what flowers are for' (@theflowerstandnottinghill).

Il banco The Flower Standa Notting Hill.

BASA, Los Angeles

Basa founder Alice Lam, with a client list that includes Kim Kardashian and Troye Sivan, has become famous for her Ikebana-inspired arrangements. She offers single bouquets (hand-packed bouquets from €110, vase arrangements from €175), but also makes arrangements for big Hollywood events such as this year's Golden Globes, for which she decorated the walls and tables of the Beverly Hilton Hotel with 6,000 scented peas and 4,500 calla lilies. He has a talent for elevating the unexpected, such as brassica (cabbage), which he combines with evergreen plants and curved willow sprigs. His new Monoflor offering celebrates the various shades of a flower through single-variety arrangements (from 175 €, basaworld.com).

Alice Lam, fondatrice di Basa a Los Angeles.

BURNT FEN FLOWERS, Norfolk

Six years ago Alfie Nickerson started growing biodynamic seasonal cut flowers on a plot of land between the Norfolk rivers owned by his family. Today his company supplies perfectly imperfect flowers to celebrity clients and socialites. Orderable online on an as-needed basis or by weekly subscription (from £52), her bouquets of cosmos, dahlias, delphinium, salcerella, roses and zinnias are delivered across the country in brown boxes illustrated with ladybirds, bees and other critters. "They represent the nature that we should all strive to defend," he explains (burntfenflowers.com).

SCARLET & VIOLET, London

Known for their wild vintage-style mixes and annual Christmas wreath auction, West London florist Scarlet & Violet is a stop for fashion names such as model Kate Moss. Their Jammy (arrangements in glass jars, €45) are perfect as gift ideas, while larger bouquets can be taken home in a recyclable tin container decorated by Monika Forsberg (€115). The team, led by Vic Brotherson, works with great speed (scarletandviolet.com).

THIERRY BOUTEMY, Brussels

Normandy-born florist Thierry Boutemy became famous for creating the opulent 17th-century-style arrangements for Sofia Coppola's 2006 film Marie Antoinette (he also did the floral decorations at the director's wedding and provided the decorations for her inaugural Bal d'été at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs). Since then, he has been a favourite of designers and works on immersive installations for brands such as Lanvin and Hermès, and is known for his romantic botanical designs, which celebrate the ephemeral nature of flowers and often feature seasonal varieties such as the German iris, his favourite. Individual bouquets can also be purchased in his Brussels shop (from €50, thierryboutemy.com).

SWALLOWS & DAMSONS, Sheffield

An excellent colourist and self-taught florist, Anna Potter graduated in Fine Art before opening her elegant shop in Sheffield, England, in 2008. Her luxurious arrangements and large-scale installations contain surprising combinations (such as spider amaryllis paired with pastel-coloured anemones and pink peony tulips) and naturalistic shapes inspired by Dutch still life cartoons (handmade bouquets from €45). The flowers she uses for her events are picked according to the season and are native species such as brambles, ferns and sorrels, which she weaves into botanical towers and large circles of foliage (swallowsanddamsons.com).

Una composizione di Swallows & Damsons, a Sheffield.

WILDER, Antwerp

Founded by florist Marijke Boesmans and image curator Mayken Craenen, Wilder specialises in slow and sustainable floristry with a contemporary design. For his bouquets he uses seasonal, local and naturally grown flowers. In winter he prefers dried flowers and evergreen plants. The shop, open Thursday to Saturday, hosts craft workshops (from €65) and collaborations with designers and artists. There are also handmade paper flowers, a selection of designer gardening tools, contemporary ceramics and magazines. Or there are the Friday Flowers - an extravagant bouquet that changes every week - delivered by bicycle all over Antwerp (from 32 €, wilderwilder.be).

Una composizione di Wilder, ad Anversa.

PETALON, Cornwall

In summer, the secret valley of Petalon in North Cornwall is dotted with delphiniums, snapdragons and cornflowers of all colours, ready to be packaged in 100 per cent Cornish bouquets (€50 or €55 with subscription), with guaranteed same-day delivery to much of the UK. Founder Florence Kennedy is known for her mixed common poppies (€39 for 18 flowers) which arrive still in bud and open as soon as they are placed in water. In winter the imported flowers are compensated by new trees planted (6 thousand so far) and all profits are donated to conservation projects (petalon.co.uk).

KO HANA, Paris

This small shop selling flowers, ceramics and antiques in the 19th arrondissement favours vaguely exuberant compositions that mix tropical and country species. It was founded by Keiko Michigami and Baudouin Roucher, who source mainly in France and Italy and specialise in the Japanese tradition of Chabana, a type of floral art specific to tea ceremonies, involving rich and voluminous creations. Michigami trained with Japanese ceramic artist Yoshimi Futamura and makes many of the vases herself, for others they use traditional Raku techniques. People drop by the shop to sip a cup of tea and pick up their customised creations, which are actually delivered by bicycle (kohana.paris).

CALLUNA, London

Located a stone's throw from Portobello Market, Calluna specialises in eclectic and unusual combinations (pink peonies and dahlias in asymmetrical shapes with ornamental garlic and tufts of grass) and tone-on-tone colour palettes. Each bouquet (from €55) - packaged in elegant natural brown paper - "looks sometimes strange, always wild," says Bess Levinson, who opened the business in 2017. The shop, with pastel pink walls, mirrors, vintage vases and artwork, is loved by fashion brands such as Chanel, Dior or Louis Vuitton, but also by members of the private club Tramp (callunaflowers.co.uk).

Calluna vicino a Portobello Market, Londra.

FOX FODDER FLOWERS, New York

Founded by Taylor Patterson, Fox Fodder Flowers is known for its loose aesthetic and wildflowers. Available online or by appointment at their studio in the TriBeCa neighbourhood, their best-selling Signature Arrangement (€115) changes weekly and arrives assembled in a glass vase, while New Yorkers can choose to receive fresh flowers every week for a month (€435), with seasonal selections including round purple flowers from Allium giganteum, wild lupine or a small bowl of buttercups (foxfodderflowers.com).

GRANDIFLORA, Sydney/Singapore

Thirty years ago, Saskia Havekes opened a small florist shop to supply the Potts Point neighbourhood. Today the shop facing Macleay Street is bigger, Havekes has dedicated a corner to fragrances and books, and Grandiflora is now synonymous in the city with stunning arrangements of all kinds of lush plants, from proto-Australian flowers such as banksia and bottlebrush, to architectural creations of tropical foliage to the fragrant Magnolia grandiflora (after which the design is named). In 2019, the brand opened a branch in Singapore with a more airy atelier among Como Dempsey's upscale shops and restaurants and offers the same sensual flowers, grandiflora included (grandiflora.net).

MITATE, Kyoto

Opened in 2013, this florist is located in a traditional wabi-sabi style machiya in the Shichiku area of Kyoto. Its founder Hayato Nishiyama favours understated, often overlooked wildflowers native to Japanese mountains and fields such as Gold Lace primroses, bluebells, wild chrysanthemums, fringed carnations and moss (arrangements from €40 plus shipping). Nishiyama does not buy flowers at the market, but collects any seasonal plants in the mountains, so a customer looking for a specific arrangement will probably be disappointed. "Wild flowers are precious because we don't know when we can pick them," he says. "I just try to bring out the best of what nature offers" (hanaya-mitate.com).

DYLAN TRIPP, Rome

Dylan Tripp's style - large, dynamic compositions enlivened by distinctive colour palettes - owes something to his background in fashion (he worked as a stylist for Valentino before opening Paraphernalia, a Roman boutique promoting small independent labels) and something to Rome, where he spends most of his days in his small atelier shop on Via di Monserrato. Expect theatricality, an unerring sense of colour and unusual combinations with hand-coloured Monstera leaves, myriads of English roses, peonies, buttercups and ornamental garlic, anemones, huge red hydrangeas and more (from €100, dylantripp.com).

THE GARDEN, Dublin

Inspired by the wild beauty of Connemara, birthplace of founder Mark Grehan, The Garden is located in a Georgian mansion in Dublin and offers designs for landscapes, special occasions and commercial events that have attracted clients such as Gucci, Chanel and Hermès. The typical Florist's Choice Bouquet (from €45), created according to the florist's taste, includes seasonal flowers such as anemones and buttercups, while the Connemara Bouquet (from €60) is reminiscent of the region's rugged foliage. Flowers are delivered throughout Ireland, either in a glass vase or wrapped and boxed (thegarden.ie).

GOSHÁ, Dubai

Founded in 2020 by fashion stylist and real estate entrepreneur Natalia Shustova and floral artist Gurgen Yeritsyan, Goshá creates bold and fantastical works with a history behind them. Her Fleur du Soleil bouquet comprises a dozen compositions that capture sunsets from Zanzibar to Goa via Lake Maggiore, while the Art Deco is composed of dried flowers, hand-woven silks and paper origami that will last forever. Sizes available range from impressive to huge, giant and finally xxxxlarge. You can also choose from a wide range of made-to-order ceramic pots, if you are not satisfied with Goshá's chic white cardboard box (from 153 €, goshaflowers.com).

SAGE FLOWERS, London

Sage Flowers in London's Peckham district is known for its contemporary and unconventional arrangements, centred around "flowers arranged in blocks of colour and clever mix of heights", says Romy St Clair, who founded the company with her friend Iona Mathieson in 2018. The two are also committed to promoting diversity in the industry through FutureFlowers, a three-month paid internship for aspiring florists from ethnic minorities. Their bouquets can be delivered to any area within London's M25 circle or collected from the shop (£45 bouquets, sageflowers.co.uk).

Romy St Clair, cofondatrice di Sage Flowers nel quartiere di Peckham.

BESS, Sydney

Founded by fifth-generation flower grower Bess Scott, this iconic Sydney-based neighbourhood florist specialises in Australian native wildflowers, many of which are grown by her family. Available online or direct from her William Street shop, the bouquets range from single-variety bouquets, which change from day to day and include flannel, eucalyptus and banksia flowers, to dense mixed natural arrangements (€73) with orange anigozanthos or grevillea and fabric garlands (€140) with Australian eucalyptus fruit and woody banksia pods, as well as warm-coloured terracotta pots containing them (from €340, besspaddington.com).

Texts by Clare Coulson, Marion Willingham, Kanae Hasegawa, Ellie Pithers, Fiona Golfar, Inès Cross, Aoife Murray, Georgina Elliott, Maria Shollenbarger

Dylan Tripp al lavoro.