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Preserving 2014’s Most Beautiful Georgia Blooms for All of 2015

DECEMBER 16, 2014 5:00 PMDecember 16, 2014 5:00 pm

In this series, the photographer Rinne Allen documents harvests across the South, exploring the many uses of nature’s seasonal yield of ingredients.

Photo

In rural Georgia, two local artisans — Mandy O'Shea (above left) and Megan Fowler (bottom right) — collaborated on a limited-edition 2015 letterpress calendar. CreditRinne Allen

In rural Georgia, two locals (who each returned to their roots in recent years after stints on the East and West Coasts, respectively) collaborated on a limited-edition floral-themed calendar for 2015 — available now, just in time for the new year. The first is Megan Fowler, who founded her letterpress company Brown Parcel Press there eight years ago. She relocated to Brooklyn for a few years but now works out of the old house she shares with her husband and young daughter in Hancock County. For 2014, she introduced Volume 1 of her Perennial calendar series, working with the Brooklyn florist Sarah Ryhanen of Saipua on the art. For 2015, though, Fowler kept her sights closer to home and tapped Mandy O’Shea, a farmer-florist who moved back to Georgia from Sonoma County several years ago to open an organic fruit and vegetable farmwith her husband in Madison County. O’Shea runs a floral design studio onsite calledMoonflower Design, and grows her own flowers in the fields.

Here, a look back on the making of the 2015 calendar ($35, brownparcelpress.com), including a day at the farm in the fall, when the creative duo gathered flowers for the project, and the printing process earlier this month — all of which took place at their two homes in the Southern sunlight, with the help of family.

In the fall of this year in Georgia, Mandy O’Shea (pictured) and Megan Fowler began collaborating on a 2015 letterpress calendar. It started with a trip to O’Shea’s farm, where she grows and arranges flowers for her design studio. Rinne Allen
Like most things in the South, the project was a family affair. Even Fowler’s young daughter, Emolyn, helped harvest the blooms. Rinne Allen
O’Shea (left) and Fowler (right) laid some of their bounty out on a cloth so that Fowler could easily sketch their shapes.Rinne Allen
Then O’Shea built the arrangement to be photographed. Rinne Allen
Back at home, Fowler sketched the arrangement to make the plates for her letterpress print. Rinne Allen
She colored the design in on the computer before creating the actual pigments for the print. Rinne Allen
With her mother and business partner, Gaëlle Boling, Fowler mixes the pigments together using sight and intuition, not formulas. Rinne Allen
Each print goes through the press a total of six times before it’s done. Rinne Allen
Just in time for the new year, the finished calendar, available in a limited edition of 50, is ready to ship. Rinne Allen

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By Design | How To Arrange Flowers, the Brooklyn Way

By KATE O'BRIEN

Last month, the Little Flower School trekked across the pond to teach British florists their Brooklyn ways. In this exclusive video for T, the co-owners share their tricks to create a seasonal arrangement that looks as effortless and chic as an unruly garden.

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Preserving 2014’s Most Beautiful Georgia Blooms for All of 2015

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