Photo: Molly Beauchemin
In honor of Pride Parade this weekend, we reached out to PMK Floral Arts, an LGBT-owned floral design business, to create a celebratory, Pride-themed bouquet for us. Peter Krask, the mind behind PMK Floral Arts and the Today Show’s long-time floral designer, put together a spectacular bouquet using vivid purple hydrangeas, adventurous sarracenia, imperial red peonies, and coppery roses. Rather than go for what one might expect out of a Pride bouquet (a rainbow), Krask sought out an unexpected mix for inspiration. “I looked for what would be colorful and exuberant– what would be an interesting combination of things too. It’s a nice metaphor, in a way, of pulling in different, unrelated things that form a community.”
Photo: Molly Beauchemin
Today, Krask styles everything from arrangements for the First Lady to the OUT100 Gala– but he got his start largely by accident 17 years ago while working as an administrative assistant in a floral design studio that was infamous for bounced checks. The studio relied exclusively on freelancers– a precarious system, but the only option in an insular industry where word of unfulfilled payment gets around. One day, in an unsurprising turn of events, no one showed up– except Krask. When Krask told his boss that they had orders to fill and no one to fill them, his boss looked him over, wished him luck, and walked out the door.
Photo: Molly Beauchemin
Krask left the company shortly thereafter but continued to pursue floral design on his own, creating everything from bouquets designed around baby orange crocs (for a special with Mario Batali) to filling two city blocks for segment on the Today Show in under 24 hours. “Working in television for so long, you have to be able to do pretty much anything,” Krask told GC. “So my style is very flexible. What people have pointed out to me, though, is that I have a very specific approach to color.”
As with the Pride bouquet, Krask often draws on unusual color pairings to craft his arrangements. Though his aesthetic flexibly accommodates his clients’ various needs, he studies the color palettes of visual artists closely, observing how they use unlikely colors in beautiful new ways. This graceful orchestration of color is the signature of his work. “Working with color, working with flowers, I really learned how to study a blossom for color ideas,” Krask explained. “Nothing’s ever just one color with Mother Nature.”
We can think of no better homage to Pride than appreciating the beautiful spectrum of nature. From everyone here at GC, we wish you a happy and safe Pride weekend!