Steinway Piano
Kat Flowers Design & Decor
Katerina Allotey
2023 installation
1st Floor- Ballroom
The Inspiration
The Flowers
Florist’s inspiration: My inspiration blossoms from Bang Yongguk’s motivational words: “Life is like a piano. The white keys represent happiness and the black keys show sadness. But as you go through life’s journey, remember that the black keys make music as well.” Having played piano when I was younger, his words struck a chord in me, and I knew immediately that I wanted this strong message to be brought to life through my arrangement.
Along themes of happiness and sadness, I decided to incorporate flowers with similar meanings into my work. While fern and amaranths symbolize youth and the vibrancy of life, anemones and bamboo have ties to the more somber topics of loss and death. To deepen the meaning behind the arrangement, I chose a color scheme to reflect these sentiments in tandem — the stark contrast of white and black imitate the keys of the piano, as well as the dichotomy of happiness and sadness.
Insomuch as happiness and sadness are interconnected in our lives, I wanted to include flowers which blended these emotions and that added to the monochromatic tone of my arrangement. Calla lilies are renowned for their mixed connotation of life and death, as well as beauty, an interpretation shared by moth orchids. These flowers intertwine the final, more romantic, meaning of my arrangement into relevance: that life, regardless of its black and white keys, is beautiful.
Recipe: Anemones, Bleach fern, Calla Lilies, Anthurium, Phalaenopsis Orchids , Bamboo , Amaranth, Palm leaves
THE DESIGNER
Katerina Allotey
Kat Flowers Design & Decor
Katerina of Kat Flowers Design and Decor started her floral design journey in her home Country of Belarus, where she launched her own business in wedding and event designs. She started small, but even before she created her own company she had big dreams. From a young age, she was arranging flowers for her family’s dinner parties and standing out from the rest of her home town in Belarus with her unique and colorful designs.
Katerina came to the US a little over five years ago and immediately was eager to work as a florist, despite the language barrier she faced coming into the country. Her determination and courage propelled her to flourish at one of the most reputable shops in DC, where she was able to learn and grow even further; reflected in her designs.
Though she is always adapting her artistic style, her work is recognizable by its compelling European romance, which she elegantly twists with modern charm: from intimate, vintage designs featuring old fashioned English roses, peonies, sweetpeas and lilacs made historic in their antique-inspired containers, to sleek and contemporary designs featuring calla lilies, exotic orchids, succulents and unusual textures allowing the eye to gaze appreciatively.
Katerina’s business is characterized by her recognizable youthful passion, a passion she is ecstatic to have unearthed early in her career. She sees every new client’s order/idea as a window for creativity and possibility, which helps her bridge the gap between imagination and real-life floral art.
PHOTOGRAPHED BY
Rudney Novaes Photography
Rudney Novaes brings a powerful — or, as some might say — persuasive approach to photography. His imagery articulates the delicacies of love and luxury. He began his photography journey in college as a fashion photographer, and his talent has only grown since then. A polyglot, Rudney has lived in seven different countries, including Mozambique, Africa, which has inspired his work and added a unique perspective to his photography.
Rudney Novaes brings a powerful — or, as some might say — persuasive approach to photography. His imagery articulates the delicacies of love and luxury. Planners praise his unique ability to style and capture details while creating a space that evokes true emotions. It's an unparalleled match, a photographic finesse, you could say, that brings a new perspective to the wedding industry. This philosophy is led entirely by Rudney's standpoint that his work is not limited to mere photographs but, rather, is a matter of expressing what it means to be alive and to do so with grace and innovation.
As a multicultural LGBTQ+ wedding photographer, Rudney strives to be intentional and inclusive in his work. He believes in paving an artistic path that showcases and shifts how the world, and we as individuals, view race, gender, and sexuality. Rudney's dedication to these principles has earned him a reputation as a photographer who captures beautiful moments and helps promote a more inclusive and accepting world.
