Artificial Flowers

Branches of white pear blossoms
made of painted metal by Carmen Almon
for Deeda Blair's New York City apartment.
Photo by Julia Netta for T Magazine.

As a preschooler, one of my favorite songs was Bobby Darin's "Artificial Flowers" which was a hit in 1960 despite coming from the unsuccessful Broadway show "Tenderloin" which is set in the red-light district of Manhattan in the 1890s.  I did not know anything about that, although I did get that the lyrics were about a poor orphan who froze to death making artificial flowers.  But it was a time when lyrics could be understood and they painted an impression that I could comprehend, even as a young child.  And I loved the up-beat, jazzy, big band accompaniment.  You will understand if you watch Bobby Darin's YouTube video performance here.

A pineapple plant made by Carmen Almon
set in an antique brass container
in a detail from a photo by Carolyne Roehm.
CarolyneRoehm.com

Despite growing up with gardens and houses filled with containers of cut flowers, ever since that song I have had an interest in artificial flowers as a permanent element in decoration.  Of course, the chances of this going completely wrong are positively stinking-ly overripe with possibilities, and I have always encouraged my clients not to depend on floral arrangements, either real or artificial, to carry a room.  So you will understand my recent joy in seeing a pair of pineapple plants made by Carmen Almon that were decorating the Bird Room in Chisholm House, the lovely-though-work-in-progress Charleston home of Carolyne Roehm.


A detail of Carmen Almon's
pineapple plant.
Photo by Carolyne Roehm
CarolyneRoehm.com

Pineapple plants are very expensive to buy yet very easy to grow.  But they grow fast so it would almost take a plantation to keep a supply of potted plants in this stage of growth.  And, of course, Carmen Almon's works are not replicas of nature but her own artistic impression.  She mostly uses 17th and 18th century botanical books as her guide rather than actual plants or photographs.

A basket of prunus branches by Carmen Almon
in the Fifth Avenue apartment of Howard Slatkin.
Photo by Jeff Hirsh for NYSD.

I really began to take note of Carmen Almon's work with the publication of  Howard Slatkin's Fifth Avenue apartment; he must have a couple of dozen of her works.  She was the first employee he hired when he opened his Manhattan business in the early 1990s, according to a T Magazine article in 2013.


Carmen Almon's clematis trained on a form
is joined by additional works in pots
in Howard Slatkin's apartment.
Photo by Jeff Hirsh for NYSD.

Carmen Almon was a botanical watercolorist 25 years ago when style icon Deeda Blair asked her to restore some 1960s tole pieces that she collected.  When Mrs. Blair moved to New York City in 2005, she commissioned the white pear blossom branches seen in the first image in this post of The Devoted Classicist.  "It's the same Bradford pear I had in Washington," she was quoted in an article by Jean Bond Rafferty for a NY TIMES article published 08/25/2013.  "I became obsessed photographing flower clusters and branches and sending them back and forth to Almon.  The branches were dark wood, covered in lichen and moss."


Carmen Almon in her Bordeaux apartment
photographed by Fabrice Fouillet for
T magazine, August 21, 2013.

Almon, 63, born in Guatemala to a Spanish mother and an American diplomat father, attended several art schools in Europe.  Her second husband, a sculptor, taught her how to solder in the late 1990s.  Using brass and copper tubes, she cuts copper sheeting with several kinds of nail scissors and employs an assortment of vises and pliers to create the petals and leaves.  Working on each art piece over a period of three months or so, she applies layers of color with washes of enamel and oil paint thinned with turpentine.  A bug is often added to complete the composition.


A Saturn peach with a Callithea butterfly by Carmen Almon.
carmen-almon.com

A 2012 charity auction to benefit the New York Botanic Garden offered a floral sprig donated by Almon which was valued at $850.  A show at New York City's Chinese Porcelain Company in October, 2013, had prices ranging from $3,500 for a nectarine blossom sprig to $40,000 for very large pieces.


An almond tree by Carmen Almon.
carmen-almon.com

More may be read about Carmen Almon in an article in the January, 2006, issue of HOUSE & GARDEN.  In addition to Howard Slatkin's FIFTH AVENUE STYLE: A DESIGNER'S NEW YORK APARTMENT, more examples of her work may be seen used as part of the décor in room settings in CHARLOTTE MOSS: A FLAIR FOR LIVING and in CHARLOTTE MOSS DECORATES: THE ART OF CREATING ELEGANT AND INSPIRED ROOMS.

A note for Devoted Readers wanting to leave a comment: while this is a non-monetized blog that does not accept advertising, there is an effort to impose ads - out of the Bloggers control and without the Blogger's benefit - before allowing a comment to be submitted.  If this happens, do not click on the ad but just keep typing in four numbers and that should allow the submittal after three or four tries.