six days 17 designers I’m sorry 6 days
17 rooms 37 designers 106 volunteers
$500 3400 visitors 40,000 flowers and
287 million media impressions these are
the numbers that give me the pluck and
confidence to present to you today the
infrastructure of creativity how to do
anything as told through the flower
house project step 1 is to have an idea
my idea came from a long-standing love
of Christo and John Claude’s large-scale
installations of immense scale and
long-term planning as juxtaposed to a
short-term exhibition window I didn’t
know how I would embody my love of
large-scale installations until I saw
images from the 2012 Dior show in the
fall of 2012 Dior show where Rafe
Simmons filled the walls and ceilings of
a Paris mansion with flowers for his
first couture reveal one image in
particular was of a specific inspiration
and it was this one of this beautiful
girl in a gorgeous gown completely
transfixed by her surroundings I would
come to call this the breathtaking
moment and it would be what I would seek
to not only experience but witnessed in
flower house step two is to find a
vessel I started small I thought I could
get a shed kit from Home Depot fill it
with flowers invite people through and
they could have their breathtaking
milisecond obviously the scale wasn’t
there so I moved on some friends loaned
me a house I had keys I took
measurements I got excited and the house
sold a lovely family was going to fix it
up and live in it this was great for the
city of Detroit but not so great for
Lisa’s flower house so I found myself at
an auction in the city of Hamtramck and
raised my hand not once but twice once
for the house that would become flower
house as you see here and the one next
door because I thought it could come in
handy
for the project and the priceless right
two houses for $500 step three is to
assemble your team many of us work in a
creative industry and the idea when
someone presents to you that you can
fill an empty room it’s a very exciting
one and my team was enthusiastic and
talented step four is to write the
vision visioning is talking about the
future in the present tense and writing
it down and this is the vision that I
wrote for flower house the third weekend
of October 2015
cutting-edge florists from Michigan and
across the country will fill the walls
and ceilings of an abandoned Detroit
House of American grown fresh flowers
and living plants for a weekend
installation the first weekend of May
2015 the flower house team will host a
preview event in a neighboring vacant
house to whet the whistles of interested
florists curious visitors and potential
sponsors we when the installation
weekend has passed the structures on the
flower house property will be
responsibly deconstructed and their
materials repurposed the land will be
converted into a flower farm and Design
Education Center on the formal formerly
neglected property the project will be
featured in local national and worldwide
media for innovation and floral design
and repurposing forgotten structures in
the city of Detroit Step five is to prep
the vessel we had a lot of work to do on
this step but eventually the houses were
ready step six is to practice that first
weekend of May 15 florists came together
step seven is to make your to-do list I
come from a very long line of to-do list
makers and I’m a firm believer in them
step eight revise your to-do list this
is a card from an old-timey game that I
have had above every desk that I’ve ever
worked at as a small business owner and
I keep it as a reminder that I’m always
wrong step 9 is to ask for help
some friends of mine said Lisa what are
you gonna do about the flow of visitors
you’re inviting 3,400 people through the
house what are you going to do with them
once
get there I had no idea how to answer
that so I thought it sounded like a good
idea that I say yes when they offered
their help and a sidenote
step nine and a half is always say
please and thank you step 10 is to add
something great at the last minute when
we were installing our practice round in
May there was a documentary made about
the Dior show that inspired flower house
and it showed in Detroit while we were
in that house working so none of the
team for flower house had seen the movie
and I thought it was a good idea that we
I thought it was important that we watch
it together
so I called a little institution here in
town called the Detroit Institute of
Arts and I asked them if they would
screen the movie for us and they said
we’ve heard about you we loved your
project and yes so a week before the
installation I gathered with my team and
community members it was a free event
event for the community and we watched
the film we watched the story of a
stubborn man with an impossible idea
realize something beautiful step 11 is
to fuel up and for this one you’re going
to have to take my word for it because I
am challenged at this step when you’re
in the midst of your project you are a
leader for your team and you’re a
machine
your body’s an engine and you need real
good food and water women cannot live on
coffee alone even though I try step 12
step 13 is to take time to observe the
thing I sat in the window of the tornado
room and watched people come in through
the back kitchen and I watched their
breath escape them and I watched it a
thousand times
step 14 is to appreciate your team out
of all the beautiful images that came
out of flower house this is my favorite
I could not have done the project
without these people step 15 is to
convert the vision to the past tense
because it feels really good during the
third weekend of October 2015
cutting-edge florists from Michigan and
across the country filled the walls and
ceilings of an abandoned Detroit house
with American grown fresh flowers and
living plants for a breathtaking weekend
installation Friday through Sunday with
an estimated 3000 plus visitors now that
the October installation has passed the
house that held the exhibition will soon
be responsibly deconstructed and its
materials repurposed the land will be
converted into a flower farm and design
Center for project creator Lisa Watts
business pot and box on there formerly
neglected properties the first weekend
of May 2015 the flower house team hosted
a preview event in a neighboring vacant
house to whet the whistles of interested
florists curious visitors and potential
sponsors the project has been featured
in local national and worldwide media
for innovation in floral design and
repurposing forgotten structures in the
city of Detroit step 16 is to question
everything and your sleep-deprived state
this is a horribly unflattering picture
of me but I show it because it’s
important I can remember my thoughts
even though they were foggy I questioned
at this point when we were pulling the
flowers out of the house the next day if
the project was a success I circled back
to that image to that breathtaking
moment and I questioned if the project
was a success and then I look at this
image of Beatrix and so step the final
step of how to do anything and many of
you know this secret already step 17 is
to have an idea thank you [Applause]