Puni Petals is fashion’s favorite florist. Originally from Phuket, Thailand, Puni to New York for college before moving to LA, where making the move to LA. In 2022, she experimented with floral design, first assembling Mother’s Day flower arrangements out of her West Hollywood apartment. She never imagined that two years later it would blossom into Puni Petals, a floral studio who has designed arrangements for everyone from Rhode to Rick Owens.
We caught up with Puni to talk flowers, beauty, and the importance of moisturizing.
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From life and work, what lessons have these women imparted that you keep with you?
"Optimism and perseverance. I’ve inherited a strong faith in knowing that life will always unravel in the most beautiful and unexpected ways, you just have to be open to receive it and make the best out of what comes to you. My mother taught me that. Puni Petals, for example, happened to me so quietly, so naturally, and without force. It was able to flourish into something so wonderful and defining because I tried my best to not put too much pressure on it to be anything it’s not ready to be at each point in my on-going journey. I just took it one day at a time!
How did you decide to focus on flowers as your artistic medium?
"I love the ephemerality of it—in a philosophical sense it teaches us to embrace the presence and see the beauty in the temporary, I really try to live my life that way! And being able to be so close to nature, to be able to touch it everyday, it’s a part of human nature, it lives within us! I also love food and cooking in that way as well—It nourishes the soul"
"My mother have instilled in me a zest for the small and beautiful and mundane. To see the joy in the quotidian. It’s made my life richer every single day because I saw it in them first."
What most inspires your work?
What’s the one step in your beauty routine you can’t skip?
"Moisturizing! Face and body! It’s funny because I can’t stand going more than two days without body cream, I always joke that I have lotioned everyday since birth and I have really smooth skin to show for it! I have to thank our mother for it because she’s super keen on staying moisturized, even in a place as hot and humid as Thailand, we still had to because we’re in AC all the time, and now I seriously feel like something is missing if I don’t lotion everyday!"
From Phuket to LA, what does it mean to you to ‘come home to yourself’?
"In the 14 years that I’ve been in the US, I’ve lived in a lot of different places but my longest stint has been in LA—8 years and counting! Since moving here, I was lucky enough to have found a place that I’ve slowly invested and bought every piece of it with my hard-earned money, but it definitely didn’t take two days. It took me years and years of putting the pieces together and create that for myself, and it’s still evolving constantly! Just like me! Every piece took time, consideration and effort to put it there, and they all have a story. That’s when I know it’s my home."
Puni's Ritual:
