Vote for Bastian+Skoog for the Diamond Awards, won't you please?

 

Bastian+Skoog is thrilled to be nominated by a national panel of judges for the first ever Mpls/St. Paul Weddings' Diamond Awards.

Look for us in the Outstanding Flower Design category, and cast your vote here in our favor. Voting begins now and ends November 15 at midnight. The People's Choice winners will be announced in the Spring/Summer issue of Mpls/St. Paul Weddings Magazine. It's based solely on popular vote, so vote early, vote often (Okay, we jest. But if you love us, please tell your friends, moms, etc.)

Midway Contemporary Art Benefit Installation

Every once in a while we create something that wows even us. At the top of our list right now is an installation that we did for Midway Contemporary Art's benefit event we sponsored, entitled Judgement of Paris, recently held at Theatre de la Jeune Lune. This annual event is always a thrill for us to work on, as Midway is such an amazing organization and Laura Mullen is one of our favorite people with whom to collaborate. This year, in the midst of a super busy week, we pulled out all the stops and made something amazing (that actually made me shed a tear with pride and love for our wicked-good peeps.)

We've been caught up in the paper phenomenon for our wedding designs for a while now -- the lanterns, the pinwheels, the paper flowers, etc. We wanted to work with these elements, but in a less (and more) precious way, so we pulled out newspaper, parasols, bamboo, 6 foot fringe and about six shades of gold spray paint, and went to town creating an enormous hanging installation.

Flowerwise, we used a combination of soft shades -- spicy peach stock, fleshy parrot tulips, huge amber cymbidium orchids and gold James Storie orchids, all of which contrasted against ridiculous, but rad black lace covered vases for cocktail tables, a huge zinc vessel and dramatic lengths of contorted chestnut and French pussy willow branches as part of the center installation.

The result was kind of miraculous, and the piece received a lot of attention at the event. We also got the world's nicest and most flattering thank you note from the director of the gallery, John Rasmussen, someone we wildly respect:


Hi Liz and Heidi,

This is a little late in coming, but I wanted to thank you and your entire team for the absolutely unbelievable work you did for the benefit again this year.

I have had so many compliments on the floral and the ceiling centerpiece from guest that night.  It went so far beyond anything we expected and worked so wonderfully with all the other elements of Judgement of Paris. I'm not sure how to say this without detracting from the auction works, but it was right up there with the best pieces - we should have talked to you about auctioning it off! (:

We can't thank you all enough for all you have done for Midway over the past few years for our benefits and look forward to working together throughout the year!

Fondly,

John

Radar Favorites

"Best flowers ever" are how we are described by Jen Knoch in her virtual concierge service, Radar's, What's the Deal listings. Check out her recommendations for other great local and independent Valentine's Day events, ideas and retailers including our friends at pH OREM, Mitrebox Framing and Chowgirls.

Bastian+Skoog is featured on Stuff I ♥

We were just informed by our friend and sweet bride, Carla Fahden, that Bastian+Skoog is featured on Stuff I ♥, a blog by the super stylish Quinn Risdall. Thanks ladies, for keeping us in the know!

Our Words of Valentine's Wisdom on City's Best.

We got a foxy write up in a Valentine's Day article this week on City's Best. Oh Lord in heaven, did I really use the word 'harbinger'? Ugh, yes. Yes I did. Nonetheless, it's a lovely little blip of our tips for buying flowers on Valentine's Day and very kind words about our studio from Kristen Aeikens.

Front Page News

A Bastian+Skoog winter wedding (photographed by Sally from LaVie Photography) was featured today on the front page of that bottomless pit of brilliant ideas, Style Me Pretty. Sweet words from the article:

The second wedding that we are featuring today is pure gorgeousness. Which is exactly what we’d expect from the amazing ladies at Bastian+Skoog.

Aw, shucks...

The heart melting thank you note of the day comes from Jill and Mark, a couple whose wedding we recently designed.

Dear Liz + Heidi,

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the amazing pieces of art you created for our wedding! From our first meeting, I was dazzled by your creativity, and I knew you would bring beauty to our day. But, what appeared that snowy February Saturday overwhelmed me. You completely captured the essence of our wedding...and pushed it beyond my dreams. I will forever remember my bouquet and our table arrangements as pieces of sculpture...and I will forever be thankful to both of you for creating them for us.

Thank you!
Jill and Mark

It's Official:Our Website Rocks (and don't just take our word for it).

The Bastian+Skoog website, designed by our friends at the superfab EightHourDay, is officially h-o-t. AIGA Minnesota, a professional association for design, held it's 2009 Design Show of Excellence for print and interactive media last week. Big kudos to EightHourDay who were recognized for their design work on not only our site, but their Minnesota Opera project, as well.

Secrets of the Sweethearts

Our studio was mentioned by Kate Iverson for Secrets of the City's Valentine's guide. We liked it so much we're reprinting our writeup here, but do check out the entire article for other sweet finds including our cupcake dealer, Sheela, at Miel y Leche.

LOVE IN BLOOM

Forget the red roses this year -- that's been done. If you want your gesture to be original and memorable, we suggest thinking beyond the baby's breath!

Bastian + Skoog Urban Flower Studio

Liz Bastian and Heidi Skoog are green-thumbed art stars. As owners of the hottest floral design studio in the Twin Cities, these ladies share some very key ideals that include "a hunger for good design and culture (and shoes), modern aesthetic sensibilities, and most importantly, discriminating taste." And these qualities are definitely evident in their unusual, custom floral designs, and their long, impressive roster of high-end clients. For those who hold art close to their heart, an arrangement from the contemporary perfectionists at Bastian + Skoog is equally satisfying to give and to get. But, beware. You'll likely become a regular, scheduling artsy arrangements for business, special occasions, and special people.

Vote for Bastian+Skoog (again). Pretty please?

We, the ladies of Bastian+Skoog, kindly ask you to vote for our studio in the MN Bride Best of Bride contest in the categories of "best overall vendor" and "florist". Note: this is different than the Downtown Journal contest we asked for your help with recently.

Bastian+Skoog won "best florist" the first two years of this competition when it was voted on by wedding vendors. The rules have changed and voting is now done by brides (and the general public), thus favoring the bigger businesses who work with piles of brides. As such, we, who have exponentially fewer wedding clients, rely on you (you, with the impeccable taste) to prettyplease follow the link and fill out the ballot to show your support for our studio.

VOTE HERE: http://www.mnbride.com
for Bastian+Skoog in the categories of "best overall vendor" and "florist".

FINE PRINT:
Voting closes March 1st, 2009.
At least six categories must be completed for your vote to count (not too difficult -- you can vote for your favorite DJ, caterer, spa, restaurant, hotel, jeweler, photographer, etc.)
Only one vote per individual, and you must fill out the starred personal information for your vote to count.

If you really, really like us, please post or forward this note along to other B+S allies.

Eternal gratitude and big kisses from your B+S girls,

Liz and Heidi

Vote for B+S!

Downtown Journal is having their Reader Raves contest. If you happen to have time and you happen to like us, would you be so kind as to fill out their ballot and vote for Bastian+Skoog as your favorite florist? It's a great opportunity to support and promote your other neighborhood businesses, as well. The deadline for the contest is this Friday, the 13th of February, so be quick about it!

http://www.downtownjournal.com/index.php?&story=13178&page=65&category=105

Big thanks from your girls at Bastian+Skoog,
Liz and Heidi

Thanks Metro Mag, we'll try to sound less dumb moving forward...

Lovely to find an unexpected mention of us in the December 2008 Metro Magazine's Ultimate, Expert-Recommended Party Resource Guide. Much to our horror, here is what it said:

Bastian Skoog—Hand-picked blooms from owners Liz Bastian, who holds a BS in biology and has done graduate work in plant pathology, and Heidi Skoog, who has experience in all media from pottery to paper, set this floral-design studio apart. 310 N. 2nd St., Mpls.; 612.333.6450.

To our double horror we soon discovered that the ninnies who wrote this were none other than ourselves -- it was taken directly off our our website. Ugh.

At least we were in good company -- many of our favorite peeps were included: Jake Rudh, Corazon, Give My Regards To, Fabulous Catering, Create Catering, Chow Girls, MartinPatrick3, The Soap Factory and Yum.

Our name here.

Hooray! We were just named best florist by Minnesota Monthly Magazine in their 2008 Best of the Cities issue. Here's a bit of their write up:

In the world of Bastian+Skoog, there is no flower that can't be transformed into a blossoming work of avant-garde art.
The clever design duo of Liz Bastian and Heidi Skoog enjoys a challenge: Simply suggest a color or a bloom and they'll produce a truly effervescent arrangement...

They had a lovely party to announce the winners (to which we were actually invited -- not naming any names other Twin Cities' magazine: you know who you are) at the Hotel Minneapolis. Bonus points to the lassies from the Midtown Global Market for above and beyond generosity with their perfect figs and goat's cheese and honey. We're fans for life. To Patron, who sponsored the drinks: cosmopolitans served in 12 oz. tumblers is a really, really bad idea. Somehow we ended up dancing our asses off at Aqua (yes, of all places, Aqua). We only had two drinks, we swear...

Kudos of the Day

We did a gorgeous mod/preppy/cheeky/classic wedding this weekend at the St. Thomas Chapel and the White Bear Yacht Club (Go Bears!). We were surprised to find our friend Sara of Mitrebox had been in attendance, when she sent us her complements:

I was at a wedding this past Saturday at the preppy WBL Yacht Club. I was super admiring the floral arrangements and taking all kinds of photos of the hydrangea, white rose, peony combos. And how each table was similar, but not the same....come to find out an hour later - YOU did them!!!

Kudos!
The Conzemius/Metcalf wedding was lovely.


Sara

StylePoints and Baby's Breath

After blowing in here yesterday in her covetable Sigerson Morrison sandals to interview us for a still secret matter, we were given a design challenge by the lovely Sara Glassman, fashion reporter for the StarTribune. After winning her over on the merits of carnations, she asked us if there were any frontiers we had yet to tackle.  And yes, baby's breath has been looming on the horizon for over a decade.  So we bought some and went to work.  We're pretty smitten with the city vase/country flower contrast, but the similar fine, dotty textures.  The initial disappointment is that a mass like this isn't actually cheap.  But when you've tired of the clever carnation, step up to the next big thing in un-cool cool.  Barbette's getting the original (copies soon to follow).

Boy, do we like that Sara: quick, clever, and an excellent writer (and if you know us even a lick, you know how much we like good writers). Check out her blog, StylePoints. We're still laughing about her take on $11.99 Sonia Kashuk lip gloss at Target: (Am I the only who thinks if they just made it $12, it would feel a little more Chanel and a little less Maybelline? Not that there’s anything wrong with Maybelline!)

Speaking of Sigerson Morrison (and Target), we are still holding our breath until Anya Hindmarch and Sigerson Morrison launch their handbag and shoe collections, respectively, for Target. October 12 through December 26, 2008 is the window of opportunity.  In the meantime we'll still fawn over Hindmarch's delish metallic leathers at Vivre, currently in the midst of their summer sale.

Flower and lifestyle porn

We were named best florist in City Pages Best of the Twin Cities a while back, but we're still not tired of their write up. It may be our favorite review ever:

Seriously funky floral arrangements with brave color and texture combinations, inventive structure, and imaginative materials are what separates this studio from your average floral designer. When we say imaginative, we mean imaginative. A bridal bouquet shaped like a box? Done! Work grapes into the bouquet? Done! Thinking less in terms of a bouquet, and more along the lines of an Asian-inspired rope of chrysanthemums? Done and done. With services ranging from huge undertakings like bridal design and corporate events to more modest bursts of brilliance such as hostess gifts or weekly deliveries to your home, the folks at this place bring a certain avant-garde flair to each and every project. A simple browse through Bastian Skoog's online portfolio, which offers page after page of flower and lifestyle porn, will prove it--not to mention what it will do to your imagination.

Best of the Twin Cities

Smack in between best tattoo parlor and best place to buy a snake, we were proud to find Bastian+Skoog named best florist 2007 by Mpls/St. Paul Magazine.  Here's the full writeup, along with Heidi's legendary profile shot (thanks to Danny Seipp for that one...)

Shout out for the shout out

Big thanks to our foxy and crafty friend Todd Pinzuti of Bungalow 6 Design who sung our praises in the May issue of Metro Magazine. Bonus points for using both the words "smart" and "clever" to describe our work.  And a tip of the hat to rau+barber -- check out that lighting!