Florist to the stars’ career in full bloom
It’s a rare enough distinction to be tapped to design and provide all of the elaborate flower arrangements for a major Hollywood event like the Emmys. But floral designer Amy Child, owner of The Hidden Garden in Los Angeles, holds the rarest title of all: She handled the Emmys’ petal pushing three times in one year.
Child–who lent her stylish touch to last year’s post-Emmys Governors’ Ball and has also flower-powered the TV Guide Awards–told me this year’s on-again, off-again Emmys put her abilities in both floral design and scheduling to the test.
“It was difficult in the sense that I had other clients booked, and the Emmys were booked again on top of that,” she says. Her first approach was elaborate, with many fragrant bouquets complemented by drapery and fruit. But when the gala took a more subdued approach post-9/11, Child had to reinvent the wheel and come up with the understated, less flashy approach that characterized this year’s post-show Unity Dinner.
Her signature arrangements of English Garden-style flowers–check out www.hiddengardenflowers.com for a sampling–have been swiped from the tabletops of many an Industry event. She’s also become the florist of choice for major names like Jennifer Lopez, Mary J. Blige, Sean “P.Diddy” Combs, Don Henley, Blink 182, Tracey Ullman, Randy Travis and Jennifer Flavin (Mrs. Sylvester Stallone).
But it wasn’t too long ago that the 29-year-old Child (who bears a striking resemblance to Denise Richards), was working alongside top stars in a different capacity as a manager of artist development for MCA Records. Back then arranging flowers was just a hobby, but the musicians she befriended took notice of it.
After doing them a few floral favors, she found that word-of-mouth about her design talents had suddenly resulted in a side business that proved even more lucrative than her day job. “I just decided ‘You know what? I’m gonna do it,'” she says. “It was like a big friggin’ snowball.” Working discreetly from her apartment, she devised a fitting name for her new enterprise: The Hidden Garden.
Turns out even in the flower biz, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. “Mary J. Blige, Casey and Jojo, Blink 182, those were all friends that have since become clients,” she says. “I [also] ended up with the major record labels,” she added, ticking off a roster that includes Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group and Maverick Records (Madonna‘s label), along with MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon and Tiffany & Co.
And then there are the stars: “Don Henley was performing at the Universal Amphitheatre and his assistant saw one of my arrangements sent from another client, and pretty soon I got a phone call.” Child adds that rather than keeping her a secret, the majority of her celebrity clients enjoy spreading the word. “Most of ’em want to say, ‘Go to my guy!'”
The entertainment industry doesn’t come without its challenges, or even out-and-out oddball requests. “For the 2000 TV Guide Awards, [I was] asked to create these huge globes. I had just started the business and had no idea what to do,” she says with a laugh. “We’ve sent flowers to a dog’s funeral. At first we thought we were sending something to someone who had actually passed away.”
The world of celebrity romance, too, presents more than a few particular demands. “My most challenging celebrity experience was to find 100 dozen roses, and I had less than a day to do it…It took us a couple hours. The problem was that the client called in the afternoon, when the [flower] market’s not open.
“Then you have someone like Puffy [Combs] and they want candles everywhere, flowers throughout the room, rose petals on the floor. Those jobs are some of the most fun things to do.”
While Child finds herself dealing mostly with big-name celebs’ assistants, a select few–like Jennifer Lopez–will pick up the phone themselves. “She had her specifics,” she says, explaining that the multi-talented diva always knew exactly what she wanted, favoring yellow roses with red tips in her hotel rooms. Other clients leave the details to her. “Most of them call and say, ‘Just do what you do, I want to spend $200.'”
But life isn’t a bed of roses, even in The Hidden Garden, admits Child–who still gets up every morning at 4 a.m. for a trip to the Flower Market. “It’s not mellow, I will definitely tell you that,” she laughs. “I’m probably more stressed out than I was in the music business.”
