Document: How did your upbringing in California affect your desire to be a floral designer? Are there still natural elements from out there that you use in your designs?

Lewis Miller: I grew up surrounded by the most beautiful gardens in a place where everything grew, and everything grew fast. Roses, wisteria, olive groves, citrus, etc. Gardens were (and are still) my first love.

Document: You studied horticulture and landscape design out in Seattle and then moved here to New York, what differences do you see in the general field of floral design and event planning between the two cities?

Lewis: Seattle is a very lush and verdant city, and one is surrounded by nature at every turn. Thus, it is commonplace, and the need to bring it indoors is not so important (to many). New York, by contrast, is a study of steel and concrete, and nature is one of the biggest luxuries. I love bringing in armloads of natural elements to soften and thus transform a room or space into something that is magical, warm, inviting, lush and always referring back to a garden.

Document: Can you speak to the floral and natural elements you used for our shoot? Why did you choose the plants and flowers that you did for spring?

Lewis: The elements chosen for this shoot were based on the individual flowers fullness, translucency and form. I have a proclivity towards flowers that have a lifespan—they open, grow and die—as opposed to some of the more stiff varieties that don’t move or change (just slowly rot). Flowers that are on their last breath, seconds from expiring—to me that is when they are most beautiful.