Nature Inspiration

Often designers will claim to be inspired by nature, which is an obvious? but oftentimes unexplained phenomenon. These are fiddle head fern curls, and I'm appropriately obsessed with them and using them in arrangements, but what most fascinates me is their unusual coloring.

They're brown, and usually used as a brown floral element, however, the coolest thing about them (ok, aside from the suessian wonky curliness, and appealingly supple but firm rubbery texture...) The very center of their curly cue hearts is this most perfect early spring green chartreuse shading into a greyish purple, but it's so subtle to be generally unnoticeable. I once had a bride ask for them painted black for her bouquet, and when they were done they were completely different and ruined, flat and ambigious.

And that, my friends, is why nature is so inspiringly cool. I would never have put any doses of those colors together, but done right, it's this crazy perfection of gentle gradient that adds the ideal amount of contrast to something really simple.