perch. goes green for art in bloom

We were so honored to be invited to participate in the prestigious event Art In Bloom held every Spring at The New Orleans Museum of Art. We were included in the table scape category.

Being three imaginative souls, we couldn't just do a table with a pretty table skirt and some pretty china, though there certainly isn't anything wrong with the tried and true approach.

We decided to deconstruct the elements of a tablescape. The color green was our focus, and we used reclaimed wood and VOC paint for the eco minded green underpinnings.
From the elements of table scape, we used a table; a chair; vases with flowers, and some props.
We wanted to feature our expertise with couture fabrics, so we built a folding screen, and made pillows using the most special fabrics. We riffed off the color green in fabric and flower choice.
We used the antique, vintage, and contemporary elements we feature in the shop.

If you are in New Orleans you can see Art In Bloom Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
at The New Orleans Museum of Art
"perch. goes green" is in the tablescape category in a gallery on the first floor

Flowers and fabric had to be special ordered months in advance. We decided to use a carpet, but not the usual type. We decided to make a carpet. And we decided to make it out of green flowers.

Mrs. Elaine Smith, Caroline's mother came from Texas to help

The back rooms of the shop were turned into a flower shop, and over three hundred "bricks" of floral foam (Oasis) were filled tip to tip with flowers.

Just soaking the Oasis was a huge job! And then all the finished darrangements had to be boxed for transportation to the museum.

The floral supplies started to encroach on the main selling floor. Don't the boxes of Oasis look cute with our Mora clock?!

Here's Jack in the back room pushing out the posies!!!

The perch truck was at the ready for two days of loading in at 7 AM.

Our space at the museum seemed very dark and empty on the first day we laoded in all the hardscape.

Caroline at the museum getting ready for two huge days of installation

Ian our electrician was drafted as crew member
All of our props were kept under wraps - we kept our design Top Secret for months!

Here's Ian, Gerald. and Jack constructing the giant flower box to hold our carpet

Bang! Jack is great with the caulk gun!

The flower box platform was pre built in sections. The edge was painted green. Everything was pre drilled for assembly. All the seams were caulked and then a sheet of heavy duty plastic was placed over the entire thing, and stapled in. We needed to have a water tight container for the carpet of flowers.

Heavy plastic was stapled into the flower box

Here are all the flower bricks we made at the shop

Caroline is urging Jack to get this carpet down!

The vases we chose for our tablescape are the Kartell Miss Flower Power Vases. They are nearly six feet tall! We got four of them.

Our own Miss Flower Power Valorie (The Visual Vamp) gets ready to fill the vases

Boxes and boxes of orchids had to be unpacked.

We chose green Cymbidium orchids with a pink center, to fill the Miss Flower Power vases.

The tableaux starts to take shape. The Flower Power vases are done. The flower carpet is nearly finished. Most of the main props are set.


Cue the peacock! We brought our white taxidermy peacock along for the display, and had a special stand made to perch him on the French antique iron table. Note the pink Valentino book under his perch!


We are happy campers! All of our planning paid off, and the installation went very smoothly.


Just some sweeping up to do before the big premiere patron party.

Caroline sweeps up

Jack and Caroline chose the fabrics for the screen and the pillows added to the" perch. goes green" vignette.


The fabrics come from Cassaro, Vervain, and Fabricut. Jack used a different trim for each pillow.

The wide trim on the green pillow (Fabricut) is vintage, and exclusive to perch.


The fabric used on the screen is a luxe cut velvet from Cassaro. Note how the pink centers of the green orchids were chosen to compliment this fabric.

The trim used on each pillow is very special.


We are so pleased with the reaction we have gotten. We were told our exhibit is reminiscent of the Maison & Objet show in Paris, or a showroom in New York.

It's all in the details!

The Louis chair covered in green croc is just spectacular in our "green" setting.



So darling readers, we hope you enjoyed our Art In Bloom Exhibit!

Art In Bloom 2010 - Green Orleans
perch. goes green

Designers: Valorie Hart, Jack Mayberry, Caroline Robert

All merchandise in the exhibit will be on sale in the shop starting on Tuesday March 30