It’s still spring, flowers are in bloom and according to research, having fresh flowers in your environment positively impacts mood and reduces stress. These days, this is important. A little less stress could help anyone and there is a local floral designer who can help you with that.
Sugey (soo-HAY) Rebollar, is a woman gifted with both a flair for the dramatic, as well as the understated. A floral designer for three decades, Sugey grew up in the tropical vacation destination of Cuernavaca, Mexico, nicknamed “City of Eternal Spring” for its perfect climate and abundant vegetation. Surrounded each day with the endless colors and fragrances had a noticeable influence on the floral designer.
Now, Sugey operates her own business, Sugey’s Petals & Leaves, in Long Beach. She has launched her own creative blueprint in custom styling, bespoke floral arrangements, organic design, and unique “living jewelry” concepts for weddings and special events. She worked previously at Marks Garden in Sherman Oaks and The Hidden Garden in Los Angeles, as a wedding consultant, event installation coordinator and personal flowers specialist. She still works as an independent contractor for special projects, freelancing for her former companies to curate certain events or collaborate on projects that require her expertise as a floral designer, while maintaining a focus is her own business.
Sugey’s projects include weddings for Pink (Costa Rica); Jessica Simpson; Shaquille O’Neal; Trista & Ryan (broadcast on ABC TV). She has worked on the Academy Awards (Governors Ball); Emmy Awards; Golden Globes; and Super Bowl. And finally, special occasions she has worked on consist of: Oprah’s Birthday; Seal’s Birthday and Britney Spears baby shower. She studied Fine Art, Design and B&W Photography.
Every piece from Sugey’s Petals is designed especially for and according to her clients occasion, taste, and the venue. It’s important to Sugey to ensure a level of quality and consistency for her clients. Adding another dimension, Sugey grows her own flowers in her approximate 12’ x 5’ garden space. For bigger production, she utilizes a space in the flower mart.
“The difference is growing exactly the product that I like to use, which is premium flowers, unique flowers, seasonal flowers,” said Sugey. “It’s a new experience for me because it’s a different process than designing. [It] requires different expertise … [Because] I do flower design, I thought it would be amazing to offer that to [my] clients … [and] stand [out] on my own.”
The extra details and methods she employs enhance the quality of her flowers; everything from the soil to the seeds is 100% organic. This method is costlier than purchasing from the flower mart. Yet, while she cannot supply homegrown flowers in huge quantities, the balance to her is being able to offer her clients flowers that she grew personally. Right now, those are amaranths. In fact, she has been anointed with the nickname Ms. Amaranth because of the abundance of growth of these striking ornamentals in her garden, known for their tall, branching structure (up to 8 feet) and large, flower plumes in red, purple, or green. And word is spreading on her nickname from her customers and even her associates.
Sugey has a dream to create an art piece with her amaranths; an installation with flowers in a venue where people can appreciate it as an art piece. Some of her arrangements actually resemble paintings.
“For instance, a chandelier, Sugey said, which if you’re familiar with amaranthus, there’s different types, ” she said. “Some grow up [wards] and there are some that grow going down, the ones that hang. So, they create a beautiful draping feeling.
“I’ve thought of many [designs] that I could do. One of the things with my work is that I do art, not just floral arrangements that you can sit on the table.”
Teaching the art of floral design
Previously, Sugey worked with Art Active LA for two years teaching a five-course floral design class for young students. The nonprofit organization in Los Angeles partners with schools, community centers and local parks to bring art and mindfulness programs to LA youth. Over two years, Sugey taught five courses to about 20 students, once a week, which included techniques on how to process flowers, how to prep containers, and learning the flowers names. They covered selecting a theme for a party and Sugey instructed them on various forms of floral design and how they can be utilized.
“It would awaken some sort of interest for them, as an artistic way of expressing themselves, ” she said. “I encountered students, females and males, that were actually interested in floral design. They found it fun to learn [and] were so fascinated with my background, how I started … They saw an opportunity that they could have. It opened my eyes to do more workshops for whoever is interested in learning to design or for a good cause.”
Other workshops she’s done include a Spotify TerraNEUM workshop; Lugano International Woman’s Day workshop; Amazon Christmas Wreath workshop and a Galentines Flower Crown workshop.
While her design philosophy has evolved, her established signature is modern design. Sugey can manipulate tropical leaves in an artistic way, in which they look like art pieces. It’s what distinguishes her as an “art designer.” It’s modern, she said, because it’s architectural and unique. She noted it is not Ikebana, a Japanese floral art, but it comes close to that. Ikebana is the ancient Japanese custom of erecting evergreen trees and decorating them with flowers as “Yorishiro” to invite the gods. Sugey became fascinated by working with leaves, discovering all the different leaves that are out there and what is possible with them.
Sugey does a deep dive to learn what her clients like, not only about flowers but “about a little bit of everything.” For instance, with a bride, she likes to develop a rapport, then create her clients’ vision and satisfy them when it comes to center pieces, personal flowers and color by guiding them through it based on her knowledge and her clients aesthetic.
One of the most challenging structures that Sugey has created is a wedding dress made with flowers for a window display. The dress was mostly made from flowers with fabric incorporated. This project came with many challenges, both “typical and personal.” She said working for companies with huge events like the Oscars or the Grammys are very demanding when it comes to having everything perfect, and on time for the whole production. Personally challenging to Sugey, was creating something out of nothing with flowers, like a wedding dress.
“I’m not a fashion designer but I kind of loved it,” she said. … It was at the Hidden Garden.
Sugey works methodically to ensure her flowers longevity and freshness, starting with clean buckets and clean water. She literally cleans every stem of the flowers because if any leaves are left on and put into water, that creates bacteria. And if she doesn’t grow the flowers, she buys the best quality of flowers she can find.
While talking, Sugey created an arrangement of pink garden roses called Candy X-Pression, a premium garden-style florist rose known for its striking, candy-pink color and ruffled, wavy petals. These roses also have a green cabbage in their center. She explained, she was not removing the cabbage or what they call the guard petals.
“Most people remove them, ” she said. “I think they’re beautiful, even though they’re a little wrinkly, but they protect the other petals. So if I start peeling them, the flower will sort of collapse. I like to leave my flowers and their natural element and not clean or process them too much, but enough.”
Sugey’s sustainable floristry creates an opportunity to enhance business practices, attract eco-conscious customers, and create clean, beautiful arrangements without harming the planet.
“It’s like a flowing energy that starts from the seed to the soil, to the compost,” she said. “All of that energy is in my work.”
Now, Sugey is working on building her clientele while she is focused on standing out. One way is through her vintage collection of vases, which offer her clients something different from what is typically sold commercially. Balancing her creativity with profitability is a challenge because Sugey is focused on creating beauty for her clients. In her experience working with “amazing people and great companies,” she’s seen how they run their business, how they market their product and she’s learned a lot. She noted, it’s hard to obtain the clientele that will pay for the kind of work that she does. She seeks to build a clientele “who truly appreciates floral artistry more than production work that is done in quantities.”
“And I’m okay with building clientele that specifically look for that, which is not everyone,” she said. “But I do want people to hire me because I will offer one of a kind designs with my artistry.”
Details: www.instagram.com/sugeyspetals