Ep. 66 The Meanings of Flowers with Karen Azoulay

19th Century Scrapbook made by Lavinia Matheson. 1890 she was obsessed with Napoleon and she loved collages from Karen’s IG

I am unapologetically slutty for flowers. Of course I have preferences but when it comes to dogs and flowers it’s pretty clear cut. I love them all, even the bad ones.

I also love a secret or symbolic language because how fun. Words can be hard and a real snooze so why not communicate with flowers? Artist, author and truly lovely human being Karen Azoulay has my favorite instagram @flowersmeanings. She would share super interesting tidbits about flowers and history, sometimes a sweet story like the one below.

In 2010, a chimpanzee in Zambia, known as Julie, was observed sticking a single blade of grass into her ear. She would leave it hanging there all day, and repeated this action again and again. Primate specialists studying this behavior concluded that it likely held no discernible function or signal other than as a fashion statement. Once the other chimps noticed the hot look, they began to copy her and the style became a full on trend in their chimpanzee community.

I don’t know what initially drew me in. I thought it was beautiful and interesting but I also appreciate what Karen is illustrating. Beyond the meanings that people assigned to flowers in the 19th century they have always been there. We have imbued them with meaning, we have used them for rituals and adornment since the beginning of time. The first tombs found in Iraq of Paleolithic neanderthals had flowers in them, Egyptians sent people off to the afterlife with multiple flowers and plants and now if you’re lucky maybe someone will get you a bouquet from the bodega, humankind likes to say something with florals.

I was so thrilled for Karen when I saw she was crafting a book and appreciate when I sent her a DM and said hey want to chat flowers on the pod she wanted to. Let’s bring back the communicative bouquet! I loved getting to chat flowers with Karen and have an excuse to buy some and cannot wait to send friends message bouquets using her book.

xx. A

What Karen’s into right now:

Now that the spring equinox has finally arrived,I’m looking forward to Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Daffodil Hill, Magnolia Plaza, and Bluebell Wood. For flower lovers, the annual publication Blumenhaus is always a gorgeous delight. I’ve just started reading Florilegia by Annabel Dover. It’s a “scrapbook narrative” about Anna Atkins, the amateur botanist most known for floral cyanotypes, who is widely considered to be the first woman photographer. A recent indulgence has been stationery items. I’ve been playing with envelopes, pressed flowers and a nice fountain pen, keeping my correspondence with Deep Sea Green ink from Graf Von Faber-Castell. Related to this newfound interest is Everthine Antiques’ very lovely line of Black Victorian stationery and the fascinating collection of scrapbooks shared on Paper of the Past.