I’ll admit it – I have a soft spot for floral designers, being one myself. I often am inspired by the collections and color combinations that floral designers put together and the moods they create in a space. Since I wasn’t able to hop on a plane, today I am taking a “virtual visit” with Sarah Ryhanen of Saipua. We’ll stop by the flower shop in Brooklyn for a tour and then pop over to a cute little bar in Red Hook for a glass of wine. Sarah has a very natural aesthetic with her floral design – sometimes I feel as if she has just picked them from a field in France. Other arrangements are more modern and eclectic. No matter what the flower combination, her arrangements feel inspired and natural. Saipua – which is derived from the Finnish word for soap (Sarah’s family is from Finland) – also makes a beautiful line of soaps which they sell in the shop. Sarah also writes a lovely blog – you can read it here. Let’s open the door and see what she has in store for us today…

Hi I’m Sarah – come on in! Saipua started as a mother-daughter team with myself and my mother Susan and my boyfriend Eric in Red Hook, Brooklyn in the summer of 2006, selling handcrafted soaps. I worked in the contemporary art world as a curator until this past fall when I decided to commit all my focus to Saipua. I really want to work with flowers all the time, they bring people so much pleasure! I still find time to work on independent projects in the art world, and occasionally will exhibit artists work in the shop.

The flower selection will vary from week to week depending on the season and what inspires us. Eric and I create custom floral designs for weddings, events and walk-ins. We generally adhere to a loose and natural aesthetic, often focusing on unusual foliage.

Here is a look into the shop. As you can see we have an eclectic mix of bold blooms and lush greens. They make a lively setting.

Eric and I are constantly shuffling items in the shop to create vignettes that complement the weekly flowers. Here you see orange banksia, seeded eucalyptus, artichokes on the stem, and some vintage books, frames, and a dressing mirror.

This is a shot of the other wall which has an incredible vintage counter-piece. We use it as a backdrop for displays of flowers and soap. Hutch, as we refer to it, was original to the building. Our space was a candy shop until the 1960’s. We refinished it when we moved in – painted it white and distressed it. It’s all the original glass and mirrors…we got really lucky. The large jars on the shelf are full of lavender buds, peppermint leaves, and balsam needles – we fill sachets with them.

Here I am prepping the days flowers and greens…artichokes, ranuncula, icelandic poppies, parrot tulips…

Darla is the foreman, making sure all the work gets done! I love her sweet presence in the shop.
Here is a lush display of orange ranuncula – I was inspired by the orange vintage ribbon next to it.

…another vignette in the shop with green glasses, vintage apothecary bottles, branches, and a protea

In addition to the soaps and the flowers, the shop features a bit of imported glassware from Finland alongside a smattering of vintage linens and bric-a-brac.

Saipua has been handcrafting olive oil soap since 1999. We’re committed to small business – we mix, pour, wrap and design all soaps ourselves. My mother Susan overseas the production of our soaps which are made in the Hudson Valley, New York and are carefully crafted in small batches. We use food-grade vegetable oils, butters, herbs and extracts. Each bar is hand cut, air dried and cured in our workshop. Saipua products are currently sold in small boutiques across the US as well as in our shop in Brooklyn.

Now Sarah and I are closing up shop and taking a walk in her neighborhood of Red Hook….
We’re right on the water here, the neighborhood used to consist primarily of longshoreman. Sarah says she often take walks down to the piers (a few blocks away). It’s quite unusual and beautiful.

We stop at a little wine-bar close by called tini. A nice way to relax after a long day at the shop – florists are up at dawn, you know! We had a few glasses of red wine and Sarah had a fontina & salumi panini with herb oil. Wonderful. I had the fig & gorgonzola bruschetta with truffled honey. We were the only people in there last night, so no people watching unfortunately! But that is really what Red Hook is like, quiet, unusual and exquisite! Thanks Sarah for a delightful visit!