Ann Taylor Window Displays :: Twigs & Honey paper flowers
Posted on | Thursday, April 7, 2011 | 31 Comments
Inspiration board from the Ann Taylor Blog
Twigs & Honey was recently commissioned to design and create paper flowers for the window displays of Ann Taylor retail stores. Pretty amazing, yes? It was a massive undertaking for us but very gratifying! I designed multiple paper flowers, some adapted from my handmade silk flowers and others that were brand new and Ann Taylor chose 9 total designs/sizes for their lovely windows. They will be featured during the month of April and will be in 266 stores nationwide. There are a few NYC locations and other flagship stores that will be receiving an extra special amount of flowers for a truly impressive display. We started discussions in late January and when we got the greenlight, we had about 3 weeks to finish the project. We had to purchase about 6000+ parent sized sheets of paper. They were all cut based on my patterns and then we had to hire and train about 27 contract workers around the area to help with the hand pressing and assembly (including my mom and mother-in-law!). After we got all the finished flowers back, we had just a couple days to package everything accordingly and then Matt and I drove them all down to California for distribution (okay, Matt did all the driving while I was passed out most of the way). Overall, it was the most grueling and stressful project ever, mainly due to the short turnaround time, but it was pretty awesome. Every single day was extraordinarily long and exhausting and it felt like there was some sort of crisis everyday, but in the end, we were so happy with completing the massive project and so grateful. Thank you so much, Ann Taylor, for this amazing opportunity! Also, thank you so much to all the contract workers for working tirelessly to finish the flowers. Each contractor had to make from 475-600+ flowers in a little over a week. That is VERY impressive!!!
Here are some photos of the flowers. Matt and I will be taking more photos of the actual displays later in the month. :)
9 different styles - 3D and 2D styles
Earlier versions
Every single petal was hand pressed or curled and hand assembled.
Some were larger...
Others were small and cute.
All in a midnight blue - which was a very tricky paper color and weight to source!
Boxes of flowers
Thousands of flowers...
After we bundled all the 12,000+ flowers into 800+ bundles, we boxed accordingly into massive boxes and packed the truck bound for California. I was so tuckered out. We had many 16+ hour days and I ended up snoozing most of the drive down, but managed to snap a few photos of the scenery:
Whew!
So definitely cruise by an Ann Taylor store near you to view our paper flowers all month long.
Thank you, Ann Taylor!!!
Thank you, hubby, for all your help and for tolerating my panic attacks and general moodiness!
Thank you, to my family and their friends for pitching in!
Thank you, to all the local contract workers for helping big time!
Category:
ann taylor window display,
april windows 2011,
floral display styling,
handmade flowers,
midnight blue,
paper flowers,
prop styling,
twigs + honey
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April 7, 2011 at 9:59 AM
Holy goodness. That is a LOT of flowers. And it's all PAPER?!?! You and your crew are amazing!! :) I'll have to check some Ann Taylor stores at the end of the month then!
April 7, 2011 at 10:00 AM
Congratulations Myra!!!! The flowers are sooooo beautiful. I’m guessing you finally can have some rest? I will make sure to come by Ann Taylor just to see your flowers.
April 7, 2011 at 10:02 AM
My, oh my, they turned out absolutely beautiful and I love the midnight blue color: so striking, I absolutely cannot wait to see the displays in Ann Taylor. I can actually say the artist is a friend of mine :)
April 7, 2011 at 10:03 AM
amazing!! congrats, myra!!
April 7, 2011 at 10:19 AM
Your paper flowers are just as gorgeous as your lovely products! Congratulations!
It's so inspiring to read your blog. :)
April 7, 2011 at 10:26 AM
i am in total and absolute awe myra. what an incredible job! it's easy to sometimes pass by window displays and think machines created the materials used--but i LOVED reading your process and also about all the insanely hard work you put into it. i feel like the installations should be up for a year! haha what are they going to do with all the flowers after april?!!!?? i would love to own one...
anyways...thank you for this. i love seeing your work and also witnessing how your biz has skyrocketed. i am moved and inspired. i bought your last two acorn bouts wayyy back in the day for my wedding and you were so kind to let me know where to order some of the pieces so i could make some for the rest of my groomsmen!
ok that was a really long comment. but thank you for the inspiration!!! you're amazing.
j.
April 7, 2011 at 10:56 AM
You are amazing Myra! The flowers are beautiful and I can't wait to check them out at my local Ann Taylor!
April 7, 2011 at 11:21 AM
Congratulations!! What an exciting opportunity - can't wait to see them in the stores!
April 7, 2011 at 11:49 AM
This is so awesome! I just might be headed to an Ann Taylor now... =)
April 7, 2011 at 12:03 PM
AH mazing!
April 7, 2011 at 4:44 PM
Myra - Wow!! Twigs & Honey has definitely been spreading it's wings lately! All these wonderful opportunities as of late! Congratulations! :) The flowers are so amazing. (How are your hands holding up?? Lol!) I'll be heading to see the display for sure!
April 7, 2011 at 5:35 PM
Wow, congratulations! That's an amazing project. I love Ann Taylor -- will be keeping my eyes open for your flowers!
April 7, 2011 at 8:03 PM
This is an amazing work! With stunning results, congrats!
April 8, 2011 at 6:06 AM
Absolutely gorgeous. What a task! You need a month off to re-coup and relax. Congratulations on your continued success, love the color and design of the paper flowers- I'll check out our local AT to see if I can see them first hand.
April 8, 2011 at 7:08 AM
Wowzza,... The color is amazing and all of the different shapes and sizes are lovely! Treat yourself to more La Mer after that!
April 8, 2011 at 9:40 AM
Congrats! Love flowers and love your work. Wish I lived in your neck of the woods. I totally would have signed up to be one of your elves! Too bad I'm based in Singapore now and can't check out any Ann taylors but I bet they're very pretty. Lucky them!
April 8, 2011 at 12:13 PM
WOW. They are so amazing and beautiful. Please post pictures of the window displays for those of us who cannot see them in person. You are truly an inspiration.
April 8, 2011 at 5:37 PM
Wow, such an amazing project...congrats! The flowers are just beautiful...
April 8, 2011 at 9:47 PM
I just saw your flowers today in an Ann Taylor window on Madison Ave! (NYC) They look so great! I was like, "AH! I follow the blog of the person who made these!" :)
April 11, 2011 at 3:36 PM
Hi,
I am hoping this reaches you. I am trying to contact you to let you know that one of my orders was incorrect. I wanted to order the halo in ivory, rather than white. I tried reaching you by phone and I wasn't able to because there is no number listed for your company. I am worried the order will be started before you receive this, and that I won't be able to change it. Please let me know.
Esther Kim
Order #1211
April 11, 2011 at 4:10 PM
That's amazing! Congratulations!!!! I feel so honored to have had you make my wedding flower so long ago! :)
And I LOVE the color!!!
April 11, 2011 at 4:39 PM
Hi,
Thanks for the quick reply! I will definitely be ordering from you again. I really love all your designs!
April 12, 2011 at 11:20 AM
Hi - I've been trying to reach you regarding an order that I'd like to place for my wedding (Bella SF has tried reaching you too) Can you please contact me or Bella when you get this, I'd like to make sure my order gets placed in ample time before my wedding date:)
Thank you!
Tara Mitchell
misstaramitchell@hotmail.com
April 13, 2011 at 8:51 PM
that's awesome! i can't wait to go to an NYC ann taylor to check it out!
April 15, 2011 at 8:55 PM
i had seen your post a while back, and thought that it was pretty cool.
and then last week i was at the mall with my mom and I SAW THEM. i was amazed. my mom was pretty amazed too. you did a fantabulous job!
hope you've caught up on your rest by now! :)
April 16, 2011 at 7:31 AM
This is so wonderful Myra! Good for you, I can't wait to see more pictures!
April 18, 2011 at 8:17 AM
They look so awesome! I took a trip to Ann Taylor here in St. Louis and there they were! I was thrilled to see your handiwork in person. I'm sure everyone walking the mall thought I was crazy for getting excited about looking at the display more than the outfits- ha!
Your work is amazing! Thanks for sharing your gift :)
April 22, 2011 at 11:24 AM
Those paper flowers are just stunning! I'd expect nothing less!
May 6, 2011 at 8:09 AM
amazing..if i ever move to portland can i be your intern?? i'm not even kidding.
May 6, 2011 at 1:13 PM
That's INSANE! The last time I was here was right before you posted... there was the photo of you and the boxes :) Imagine being on the other end and opening boxes filled with flowers... so lovely! Brilliant colour... You all did an amazing job, and they look STUNNING!!
June 3, 2012 at 8:36 AM
Your paper flowers are just as gorgeous as your lovely products! Congratulations!