Of course there is no-one else that could merge the art of contemporary design and the craft of horticulture more uniquely than writer, floral designer and over all interdisciplinary thinker Christin Geall founder of “Cultivated”.

With her bold passion for horticulture and her eye for excellence in design she propelled herself as one of the leading contemporary designers in floristry. Besides growing and arranging her own blooms she is on the brink of releasing a brand new book that she has written and photographed called:
“Cultivated: The Elements of Floral Style”

Like so many, a childhood spent in nature sows the seed of a lifelong passion for gardens and its inhabitants: “Despite being raised in downtown Toronto, I had an understanding of the wild and a solid set of outdoor skills by the time I was eighteen.” Christin‘s interest for horticulture developed even further when she apprenticed to the herbalist Heidi Schmidt: “The summers I spent studying herbalism on Martha’s Vineyard in my late teens and early twenties were among the richest in my life.”
It was then that she discovered the essential dichotomy between the wild and the cultivated that would later be at the heart of her Business “Cultivated”.

Christin‘s drive to be independent and to use her broad skill set she gained early on, lead her to go off-grid: “I went solo to an island, homesteading in British Columbia without a blink of an eye at age twenty-four, so I suppose I felt competent enough to take that on despite my urban upbringing. I certainly felt an ecological imperative to do so, so perhaps that egged me on to try.”

With a background in Environmental Studies & Anthropology Christin shows how science and design can work together in many ways, particularly in her own: “I adore making connections. This doesn’t mean I look at a tulip, conjure its significance to trade and plant breeding in the 17th century, but it does mean I ask questions of plants: How did you get here? How did people use you in the past? What are your ecological associations? There was a strong emphasis on ethnobotany in my undergraduate education, so I think I’ve carried that method of inquiry with me over the years.”

An added internship at Kew Gardens in London to her horticultural background also fuelled her interest in growing plants for her thriving venture later, however she does admit that: “I’m becoming a terrible gardener. I rarely plan these days, am wholly opportunistic, and will stick anything in almost anywhere, seeking to maximize productivity. At least that’s how I operate now that I’m trying to get as many blooms as I can from my land.”

Christin created her business and her flower farm in 2015 that combines all the interests she had discovered through her inspirational journey up to this point: Travel, Art and Horticulture merge perfectly between her capable hands and show that floristry can be ecologically and aesthetically valuable at the same time. Her unique arrangements embrace diversity and bring forth the many layers of her own personality and knowledge: “Sometimes I think our interests just keeping circling back to us in one form or another and though this is an odd analogy, it can be like one of those modern conveyor-belt sushi bars, and depending on what we’re attending to in life at the time, we either grab ahold of something that nourishes us or we let it drift by.” Her floral design skills have resonated with many other designers within the community that appreciate not only the unique aesthetic but also the horticultural influences behind her strong voice. Christin adds: “I can be highly social but need periods of deep creative retreat—gardening, writing, photographing or traveling solo—in order to re-charge. Cultivated has become this perfect mix of work out in the world and inner work which I love.”

Even though her career that she has carved for herself is truly inspirational she openly says:
“I wish I had had time to learn more about art when I was younger, because although I had a solid grounding in the philosophical aspects of living and working with plants, and possessed some of the practical skills of a gardener, a fine art background might have given me the confidence and latitude to move towards environmental art and installations. But that’s just conjecture: one makes choices. In my mid-twenties I was accepted into Master of Landscape Architecture programs, but I went on to do a MFA in Creative Writing instead. I don’t have any regrets.”

Christin has recently focussed all her energy and creativity on her upcoming book, that taps back into her early interests in art, and shows the depth of art that is involved when it comes to floristry. It is an accumulation of research as well as her own artistic mind and eye that she developed through sharing her visual opinion and creations on social media such as Instagram:
“A collection of essays on the art of floral design” is how she describes the heart of the book that also highlights contemporary floral design.

Last but not least Christin adds:
”There is nothing I love more than visiting a garden for the first time, appreciating its unique diversity— its slopes, styles, blooms, stems and seeds and then transposing an image of that garden—and that moment in a garden’s life—to the vase. I’d like floral design to carry that sense of place.

You can pre-order the book thats about to be released right here: http://www.cultivatedbychristin.com/book

And follow Christin and her visual stories on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cultivatedbychristin/