Japanese and Italian Ranunculus, Wild Sweet Pea, Blue Ferns, and one Hellebore.
Photo: Ariel Dearie
Creative Mind: Ariel Dearie
The Hudson Valley floral designer crafts expressive arrangements that inspire her creative practice that ranges from collage to metalwork
Ariel Dearie. Photo: Andrew Simkiss
Ariel Dearie launched her career working front-of-house positions in restaurants such as the beloved Upperline in New Orleans before relocating to Brooklyn, where she began creating floral arrangements to decorate the tables. That early foray led her to organizing the flowers at weddings for friends and soon after, styling botanicals at an Annie Leibovitz photo shoot for Bulgari starring Isabella Rossellini. “When I started, it was hard to find this more natural style,” says Dearie.
Since 2012, she’s collaborated with the famed photographer multiple times, even conceiving an exquisite, organically shaped sword using a tree branch found on Leibovitz’s Rhinebeck, New York, estate for her initiation into the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Using a process called electroforming, Dearie dipped the branch in a bath of copper sulfate before shocking it with a low-voltage current. Inspired by the work of Claude Lalanne, she continues to explore metalwork as part of her oeuvre, which also includes collages made using vintage illustrations, personal photographs, and charcoal drawings.
An arrangement of magnolias, ranunculus, and hellebores by floral designer Ariel Dearie. Photo: Ariel Dearie
Design philosophy: “If you are trying to cram in so many flowers, you can lose the beauty of the movement of that stem. It’s finding the balance between feeling full but keeping the airiness and emphasizing the beautiful traits of each bloom.”
Strawflower. Photo: Ariel Dearie
Bananas. Photo: Ariel Dearie
Up next: Dearie is expanding her electroforming practice to construct framed mirrors and brass leaves. “To be able to bring some permanence is something I really like.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2025 Spring Issue under the headline “Creative Minds.” Subscribe to the magazine.
Geranium Leaf Mirror. Photo: Ariel Dearie
Poppies. Photo: Ariel Dearie
Cover: Japanese and Italian Ranunculus, Wild Sweet Pea, Blue Ferns, and one Hellebore.
Photo: Ariel Dearie
