Take a Look Inside a Cumberland Florist’s Verdant Living Room

Take a Look Inside a Cumberland Florist’s Verdant Living Room

Life and art collide in floral designer Michelle Rech’s living space, where she creates surprising arrangements inspired by Jell-O salads.

TEXT BY SARAH STEBBINS
PHOTOGRAPHED BY CODY BARRY
floral designer Michelle Rech in her Foreside living room


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<p style='text-align: center;'><strong>ART</strong></p>
<p style='text-align: center;'>After attending Boston’s <a href='http://www.floralschool.com/' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>Rittners School of Floral Design</a> and working for various florists, Rech launched <a href='https://www.electricflora.net/' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>Electric Flora</a> last year in the living room she shares with her boyfriend, Kevin Connor, a business owner and musician. One corner displays art they’ve collected: a poster of a favorite band; a guitar and lion, representing Connor’s passion and protective personality; an acrylic of the Brooklyn Bridge by Rech’s grandmother; an abstract acrylic by Biddeford’s <a href='https://www.instagram.com/hhirsch_art/' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>Hannah Hirsch</a>; floral-themed needlepoints by <a href='https://www.mayakirsi.com/' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>Maya Kirsi</a> and Cape Porpoise’s <a href='https://www.instagram.com/stitchedonlangsford/' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>Tess Johnson</a>; and a <a href='http://www.sophiecangelosi.com/' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>Sophie Cangelosi</a> print of a girl with her face in a poppy, “the embodiment of how I feel about flowers.”</p>
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<p style='text-align: center;'><strong>BOUQUET</strong></p>
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<p style='text-align: center;'>“When I’m creating, I think about creepy Jell-O molds I’ve seen on the internet with really weird stuff in them.” Her arrangements feature a similar visual potpourri, such as the Tiffany roses, feathers, spray-painted baby’s breath, chrysanthemums, and umbrella ferns, and dried and spray-painted amaranth, balloon plant, Billy ball, cattails, palm fronds, and pampas grass seen here. “My whole thing is transporting people to a different dimension with flowers.” Nonperishables extend the otherworldly experience: As blooms wither, “you can make new little weirdo things with the dried stuff.”</p>
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