Inflorescence | Broccoli Magazine
Photography by Paul Popper/Popperfoto.
“She paid no mind to the rules of the day: that arrangements ought to include just one species or color, or that a vase should be tightly stuffed to convey mastery and abundance. The regimented opulence of Victorian and Edwardian styles did nothing to stir her spirit. And a stirring of the spirit was what she sought.”
It is worth imagining oneself in the time and place in question: the year 1928, on Old Bond Street in London, in front of Atkinson’s perfumery shop. The police have been called to subdue a crowd jostling to catch a glimpse of some rather extraordinary flower arrangements in the shop window. Did you hear? They were created by a forty-something woman, a bit of a free spirit—divorced, did you know? The stirring sight in question featured such peculiarities as clematis seed heads, blackberry brambles, golden hops, and dried leaves, right alongside a smattering of spindly green orchids.
Sometimes, revolution comes dressed in a pinafore and pearls. So was the case of Constance Spry. Dazzling and dismaying sidewalk passersby was just one chapter in Spry’s surprising life.