garden

Cutting Edge
CHRYSANTHEMUM, MEET LE CORBUSIER
Every day after school, Karla Dascal's mother took her to a floral market
in Little Havana, Miami, where the sunflowers, gerbera daisies
and bird-of-paradise listed in their water-filled buckets. This experience
ignited Dascal's passion for fresh flowers. Or as her company's
mission statement puts it: "Florals are Karla's soul transformed
into a million-dollar art form." After studying art, architecture and
design in Boston, Dascal returned to Miami and began selling roses
imported from Ecuador. "They were these sensational, salmoncolored
roses that would last ю days," Dascal recalls. That budding
enterprise has since bloomed into — deep breath — Karla Conceptual
Event Experiences, a full-service event-planning firm in Miami's
Wynwood Art District that handles invitation design, event decor,
lighting and of course sculptural floral design, Dascal's trademark.
"Whenever you see one of my floral designs, you know it's from
me," she says. "When I began, people were still doing these big
European arrangements. We streamlined things and made them
more architectural." The Mix (pictured here) is a perfect example.
Every arrangement starts with freshly imported flowers, in
this case, South American chrysanthemums, Dutch tulips and
New Zealand flax leaves. "This arrangement alone represents three
continents," notes Dascal. Add some traditional architectural materials
— steel wire and glass — then reshape the flax leaves into
Japanese calligraphic brushstrokes, and "you have art," Dascal
says proudly. "Fresh, design-driven art." karlaevents.com — SCB
APRIL 09 GARDEN DESIGN 19