"A room never feels complete to me without blooms. Even a single stem lifts the spirits immeasurably.” —Ulla
Born from a shared language of flowers, longtime collaborators Taylor Patterson of Fox Fodder Flowers and Ulla Johnson present a bespoke arrangement to celebrate the opening of Ulla Johnson Madison Avenue. Gestural and wild, the arrangement captures their downtown spirit, brought uptown for a limited time.
Available for pre-order in limited quantities. Order the exclusive 'Oh So Ulla Arrangement' here.
We caught up with Taylor to discuss what inspires her, the first arrangement she composed for Ulla, and the importance of letting flowers stay wild.
When did you first fall for flowers, and what drew you into making them your medium?
I’ve always loved flowers—my parents are both gardeners, so for me it felt normal and something I assumed everyone loved. What’s not to love? I started working with flowers shortly after moving to New York from Paris. I loved being in the city, but I was always yearning for the beauty and calm that being immersed in nature can provide. At the time, I was at a turning point in my career and began working for a landscape designer—digging holes, thinking that was what I wanted to do, both the design part and the digging part. Eventually winter came, and there were no holes to dig and no design positions available, so I took a job in a flower shop—and the rest is kind of history.
When you’re composing an arrangement, where do you start—color, mood, a specific flower?
It depends… when I’m doing an arrangement for myself, it’s most often a specific flower, weed, or branch that speaks to me and sets the tone or direction. I honestly hate the question “what’s your palette?”—even though I probably ask it every day. I prefer to let nature, and whatever jumps out at me, decide the colors.
How do you let the flowers stay a little wild, while still shaping them into something intentional?
You don’t try to force it, and you give them space. For flowers in a vase to still feel “wild,” you have to let go a bit—let them do their thing.
Do you remember the very first arrangement you created for Ulla—what it was like, and how it felt to see it in her world?
I don’t know if it was the first arrangement, but it’s the moment I remember most clearly. It was when we took over the weekly flowers for the Bleecker Street store. It was spring. We went way over budget and made these wild arrangements of white cherry, Italian poppies, French tulips, Japanese sweet pea—everything that was bursting at market and, frankly, crazy expensive. It was over the top and impractical for a weekly account, and I knew we’d have to come back and refresh it in two days, but I didn’t care—I was having fun. And that’s what it has been ever since: fun.
The bespoke arrangement created for the Madison boutique captures your downtown spirit. What does that mean to you?
For me, that means unfussy, fun, and—as I mentioned before—a little wild.
How do you hope people feel when they encounter your flowers in Ulla’s spaces?
I hope they feel inspired. And I hope they sense the impact flowers can have on a space. What I love about working with Ulla and the whole UJ team is that flowers are treated as just as important to creating an environment as anything else. No other client of ours loves flowers as much as Ulla, and we want anyone entering the space to feel that.