There is a stillness and beauty in the foliage and blooms that floral designer Lewis Miller selects for his arrangements. His airy work brings sprigs of pine trees, poppies or wild strawberries into both the dark corners and light-filled windows of New York flats and boutiques including Bergdorf Goodman, Givenchy, and Chanel. Miller has said he finds inspiration for his designs in paintings by Italian and Flemish masters, and nowhere is this more apparent than in  Styling Nature: A Masterful Approach to Floral Arrangements (Rizzoli), the new volume shot by Don Freeman, and written by Miller and Irini Arakas with a forward by Marie Claire creative director Nina Garcia. The book, the result of a decade-long collaboration between Miller and Freeman, includes images of such combinations that only a trained horticulturalist (Miller) could dream up. And an index of thumbnail images listing the types of flowers in each arrangement is invaluable. Each mix of pricey blooms with garden-variety foliage is striking, and the lists of unique plants acquired to produce them are especially surprising. For Californians, Miller’s work brings to mind Bouquets to Art, the annual fundraiser held at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco during which Bay Area floral designers create arrangements inspired by works in the de Young’s permanent collection. Ultimately, whether pictured in a coffee table book, arranged on a table, or inside a museum, fresh flowers signal spring’s arrival, and Miller’s insights help us all make the most of the season.

By Elizabeth Varnell

Pictured: An arrangement including mimosa, ranunculus, pincuchion protea, grevillea, Australian curly pine, ferns, and colocasia.
Photo by Don Freeman

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