“Stop and smell the roses” — a timeless collection of words heard throughout most of our lives, but how often is it actually put into practice? CEO and floral designer of East Olivia Creative — Kelsea Olivia — has built a budding career in masterfully creating art through her vibrant visual presentations of floral arrangements in celebration of evanescent beauty. Kelsea believes that beauty is not a luxury, but a human right and her innovative approach to design and alluring passion for florals are the perfect accent to set the tone for Spring.

“So who am I?” Kelsea asks with a blushing smile, “in three words I am: community, beauty and of course, flowers!” A California native, now living in the fast-paced heart of New York City, Kelsea has spent her life surrounded by a canvas of art and natural beauty. One of her favorite decorative pieces that resides in her home reads “live on coffee and flowers”, a perfect sentiment to describe this hardworking designer. Constantly inspired by just walking out the door of her town-home, “there is always something fresh and exciting being offered and the palette of colors is the stuff of dreams,” beams Kelsea. From museums, to street fashion, to simply taking a ride on the subway to visit the local flower shops, there is so much life, color, and texture to experience in day to day life. All of these, oftentimes overlooked, adventures are thoughtfully expressed into the meticulously curated designs she and her team creates.

Learning about entrepreneurship from her (late) mother at an early age, this mostly self-taught designer deems her passed down business expertise as the key that blossomed the beginning of her professional journey. Having many incredible mentors along the way, it was not until her position at BHLDN / Anthroplogie that she actively became involved in floral styling and discovered her true passion for crafting a visual that can evoke sentimental, nostalgic, or even inspirational feelings to the beholder. Kelsea’s diverse experiences in retail through prop styling, botanical/floral design, content creation for social media, and event planning, all encouraged the creation of East Olivia Creative. Founded six years ago, East Olivia (EO) is an innovative, women-led creative agency that specializes in creative production and event styling with a mastery in breathtaking large scale floral art installations.

Much like styling an outfit or designing the interior of a home, assembling the perfect floral arrangement is a gift. Wether you want to set a soothing, calming mood or create a colorful, eye-catching bouquet for your kitchen table, we can all agree that much like constructing the perfect outfit for the day, visiting your local flower shop with so many beautiful choices can at times feel overwhelming. Now before you give in to temptation and let anxiety take over, Kelsea shares with us her go to tips for creating a simple arrangement to perfectly accent any space. “One of my favorite, fool proof ways to make any flowers look lovely in your home is to select a few different bunches of blooms in complimentary colors and then put each bunch in its own vase, but cluster the vases near one another. You can do many of these little clusters with just a few bunches if you have varying size vases, bud vases, etc. Pro tip — layer uneven numbers of vases in varying heights. Three is always a great number to start with!” 

Every floret offers its own unique nuances that set it apart from the others around it. Kelsea and the EO team celebrate the originality of each blooms little quirks, transforming them into an art piece that is so lovely and one-of-a-kind. One characteristic this designer is most unapologetic for is her passion for beauty — “I think sometimes people can see it as superficial or frivolous, but if you have ever crafted a bouquet for a bride or filled a swimming pool with fresh florals or created a living art piece in front of the Flatiron Building in NYC (like we have)... you know that beauty and flowers are powerful,” exclaims Kelsea. When the EO team begins the process of constructing a custom floral set, they embrace each arrangement as an exciting opportunity to play and bring forth new and imaginative ideas. Each commissioned piece is made authentic to the client through choice of charming florals, bright silhouettes of color, and additions of complimentary accent pieces. “The art of styling can be intrinsic or curated,” shares Kelsea. “When we are working with fresh florals especially, there is a bit of bending nature to fit your needs, but also some acceptance of what was created from the earth and honoring that design in itself. So when it comes to styling for a shoot or a real-life space, or even my own home, it is undoubtedly an art form.”

As seen with many businesses, the flourishing floral industry was not sheltered from the unexpected impact of the pandemic that overtook the world last year. With the massive shut downs came the sudden halt of East Olivia Creative’s in-person events. “We realized that in order to keep our doors open, our employees employed and our floral colleagues going, we needed to pivot and quickly,” exclaims Kelsea; “and that is how Forever Florals was born!” A passionate advocate of spreading positivity and all around good vibes, during a time of fear and uncertainty, Kelsea found a way to continue sharing beauty and light to this world via blooms. The East Olivia Forever Floral Shop is an online marketplace that virtually invites people to purchase delightfully beautiful, dried and preserved floral bouquets that, if taken care of properly, can adorn any space across the globe for over a year. While the floral industry has a long way to go to be truly sustainable, the designers at EO are driven by the desire to make ephemeral beauty everlasting. And if we take time to reflect on the many things 2020 has taught us, one prominent lesson would be that sometimes we just need to slow down and stop to smell the roses. 

With creative connections walking down every avenue of NYC, street wear style has always been a go to inspiration for this floral designer.  “Getting dressed is the first creative thing I do each day and I can’t imagine where my designs would be without fashion,” shares Kelsea. As you can expect from a leading lady like Kelsea, her style is inspired by other admirable and independent designers, such as Mara Hoffman, Little Tienda, Nikki Chasin, Christine Aclay, and that is just to name a few. Embracing a unique approach to design with Forever Floral, Kelsea has graced each custom bouquet with the name of a specific person that has had an impact on her life. This is evident in the most recent Valentine’s Day Collection including arrangements inspired by Model Tess Holliday, writer Alex Elle and artist Morgan Harper Nichols — “these magnificent women doing extraordinary work in their respective fields personified in flowers,” admires Kelsea. It is quite an empowering message and accolade.

We of course had to ask this polished floral designer, who spends her days surrounded by countless gorgeous arrays of flowers, what floret has she been loving at the moment. And being that we are in the season of celebrating love, Kelsea confesses that currently she has returned to her deep adoration for the timeless red rose — specifically being drawn to the bright red “Nina” and the soft “Quicksand” rose. However, picking out her favorite floral season was not as easy.  “Wow this is such a hard one,” laughs Kelsea, “but I think I would have to choose the end of Winter. This is when I begin to see Icelandic Poppies reappear at the flower market and damn, they are just stunners! Their petals are so thin you might think that they are made from tissue paper rather than grown from the ground.” 

As this new year continues to move forward, Kelsea Olivia will continue pouring love into her blossoming Forever Floral Shop, as well as one day resuming her visual storytelling through the art of beautifully curated floral installations. And as our conversation with the delightful floral designer comes to a close, she would like to leave us with these parting words —  “It has been a tough time for everyone, and as dark as some days can be there is an equal capacity for light. We all have an impact on the community around us and small acts of kindness can mean the world to someone else. Act on that notion every day and you’ll see your influence take shape.”