A buying trip to an accessories market
in Atlanta resulted in a high-profile assignment for a local
business owner.
At Stems in Hyde Park, Barbara Davis-Venn creates unique
arrangements with faux flowers. She doesn't like the terms,
"artificial," "fake" or "silk"
to describe the flowers she calls "permanently fresh."
Davis-Venn met West Virginia interior designer Pat Bibbee
last summer at the market. While both were in an area with
faux flower arrangements, they discovered they share a taste
for arrangements that look natural, like somebody gathered
the flowers from a garden."We were looking at (the
arrangements) together and our tastes were the same,"
Bibbee says.
When Bibbee began a project to redecorate the public rooms
at the West Virginia Governor's Mansion in Charleston, she
knew that Davis-Venn would be a great choice to create a
large arrangement for the mansion's foyer.
Bibbee did a little research to confirm her instincts on
Davis-Venn's work. Then she gave Davis-Venn the assignment,
along with an antique punch bowl to hold the arrangement,
fabric samples and pictures of the room.
For the arrangement, Davis-Venn used faux lilies, hydrangeas,
magnolias, quince branches, roses, daylilies and viburnum.
She tried to find rhododendrons, West Virginia's state flower,
but couldn't get the quality of flower she wanted in time.
The silver punch bowl, originally belonging to William MacCorkle,
governor of West Virginia from 1892-1896, was appraised
in 1979 for $20,000. It was given to the governor's mansion
in 1980.
The floral arrangement stands 42 inches above the punch
bowl.
Davis-Venn doesn't follow any particular rules when she
designs arrangements, but she does choose flowers that have
different shapes and textures.
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