Botanical Conversation Justine Beaussart floral designer

Journal

Botanical Conversation: Justine Beaussart, floral designer

We are delighted to launch our series of Botanical Conversations, giving a voice to those whose work brings together botany and creation.

Our first conversation is with Justine Beaussart, floral designer and founder of Nebbia Studio, based in Annecy, France.

Justine has a vivid passion for singular floral varieties, unexpected colour harmonies and generous compositions, shaped by a modern, free-spirited style.

Colour plays an essential role in your work. How does a palette begin for you?

A palette is, above all, a narrative tool for me: it’s what allows a project to tell a story. It usually begins with an emotion, an intention, or an experience we want to bring to life.

At the moment, for example, I’m working on the colours for a wedding whose couple envisioned a slightly baroque, almost dramatic atmosphere. The main tone will be a deep burgundy, but we also wanted to introduce something surprising, contrasting and fresh. A sharp, acidic green brings exactly the kind of vibrant counterpoint that awakens the whole composition.

That is often how my palettes emerge. I try to bring together a strong emotional intention with a play of contrasts that creates a distinctive visual dynamic.

What most nourishes your eye on a daily basis?

I love talking with the people around me, understanding their projects, their challenges, what truly animates them. From these conversations, sometimes even without noticing it, intuitions, images and ideas emerge, and they later find their way into my work.

An architect friend, for instance, told me about a beautiful corridor she designed for a house, beginning between two gently undulating walls. That sense of movement guided me, almost instinctively, while setting up a scenography. Another example comes from a chef friend who serves an egg delicately marinated in red cabbage vinegar, paired with a very pale mayonnaise, a lilac and pastel-yellow harmony that I’ve sometimes carried over into my floral compositions.

I think this is what nourishes my eye: a circulation between the imaginations of the people around me, whose sensitivity I admire deeply.

In your practice, is there a gesture you are particularly fond of, for what it brings or for what it reveals about the flowers?

Yes, there is a gesture I am particularly fond of, and many floral designers in the event world know it well: blowing on the flowers. For events, flowers need to be perfect at a very specific moment, and by perfect, I mostly mean perfectly open. Sometimes you need to help them a little so they bloom at the right time.

Blowing gently on their petals is a soft way of waking them up, of encouraging them. And rest assured, I do not do this for every flower, only for those that occupy a central place, when I feel that this small gesture can reveal their full beauty.

Justine with the embroidered basket - Pansy.

Is there a book you particularly love to return to?

The one that comes to mind first is neither a picture book nor a practical guide. It is more philosophical in nature. It is called La Voie des Fleurs, by Gustie L. Herrigel.

The author studied ikebana in Japan, and what I love about this book is the way it approaches this ancestral practice not simply as a technique, but as a way of understanding the world: the relationship between human beings and nature, patience, attentiveness, detachment, and the search for harmony.

Is there a work that has accompanied you for a long time?

When I was twenty, I took a break from my studies and went to live in London for a year. One of the first things I did when I arrived was to visit the National Gallery to see Van Gogh’s Sunflowers again. I had discovered the painting as a child during a visit with my father, and I wanted to find it again the way one returns to a familiar face.

What I love most is that there are several versions of Sunflowers, scattered across different museums. I saw a second one in Amsterdam a few years ago. I still have three left to discover.

Justine with the artwork "Plumbago" by Les Fleurs Pressées .

What never ceases to move you in your work?

What will never stop moving me in my work is the way my relationship with flowers is both fleeting and cyclical. I meet them again season after season, then I have to let them go, with the joyful promise of finding them again the following year.

A place you love to return to when you need space or inspiration?

I grew up partly in the Queyras valley in the southern Alps, where some of my family still live. It is a region that holds a very special place in my heart. My favourite seasons there are spring and autumn.

In spring, when the snow melts, you come across true botanical marvels: wood anemones, fritillaries from the Dauphiné, poet’s narcissus, and a little later in the season, the martagon lily.

In autumn, the contrast between the orange larches and the blue sky reaches an incomparable beauty.

As Christmas approaches, is there a flower, or a botanical detail, that evokes this season for you?

I adore mistletoe. I find it absolutely fascinating, both for the way it grows by settling onto its host and depending on it, and for its symbolism and the rituals it still carries today. Kissing under the mistletoe to bring good luck: there are very few plants to which such a powerful sense of magic is attached.

Justine with the Tobisho Japanese Secateur and the camellia oil applicator.

What are your favorite tools and why?

Without hesitation, the pruning knife and the secateurs, the two essentials in the studio.

The pruning knife allows for a clean, precise cut, ideal for optimising the hydration of the stems and working gently, especially with the most delicate botanicals. Secateurs, on the other hand, offer both efficiency and strength: they make it possible to cut more woody branches while maintaining perfect control of the gesture.

These are tools I always choose with great care. Well sharpened and comfortable in the hand, they become almost an extension of the body and accompany each of my compositions.

In the studio, I keep two very particular pieces that watch over me like good-luck charms. One is the pruning knife that belonged to my great-grandfather Aïssa, a man I never knew but who holds an important place in my family’s history. The other is the pair of secateurs that belonged to my husband’s grandmother, given to me by my father-in-law.

Among the Jardiniste selection, which products are your favourites, the ones you would love to offer?

Honestly, choosing feels almost impossible. I could easily welcome the entire Jardiniste selection into my life… or into the lives of my loved ones. But by playing along, I imagined who I would offer each object to, and I managed to put together a very personal top twenty.

- For my mother, a striped cotton apron . Now that she's rediscovering the pleasure of spending time in her garden and vegetable patch since retiring, it would suit her perfectly.

- For my little sister Pauline, the beautiful basket embroidered with a pansy . It is a flower we both love, and it was our grandfather’s favourite. A gift filled with softness and memories.

- For my grandmother Marie-Rose, the beautiful book Le Monde de la Rose . A refined tribute to the flower she is named after.

- For my husband, who has a real talent for finding the perfect scent to fill our home: a set of Japanese incense , paired with elegant long matches . Something to fuel his olfactory explorations even more.

- For my sister Agathe, a floral colouring book . A simple, poetic gift that is always inspiring.

For my 3-year-old daughter, Alda, a trio of butterfly seeds and a pretty flower press . She marvels at everything nature offers and loves collecting little things she finds. This gift would be an invitation to continue those discoveries.

- For my dad, who loves picking hydrangeas from the garden to make beautiful bouquets, a hexagonal vase with an Art Deco inspiration . Its elegant shape will fit perfectly into his home and enhance the beauty of his garden flowers.

- For my brother Victor, a high mountain guide, sensitive to the beauty of nature in all its forms: the work "Black Snowdrop I" from Fleurs Pressées . It captures precisely these small flowers that he finds during his climbs, announcing the end of winter in our high-altitude valleys.

- For my best friend Lisa, who is a true tulip enthusiast, especially those that open generously and droop as if they want to escape from the vase: the book The Tulip Garden by Polly Nicholson. A magnificent book dedicated to this incredible flower.

- For Rémy, my father-in-law, the green metal watering can : elegant, sturdy, and perfectly designed, it would be ideal for his vegetable garden. And, let's be honest, it's about time he could finally say goodbye to his old plastic watering cans, faded by the sun.

- For Valentine, who is starting her apprenticeship with me, a complete Japanese kit – pruning shears and scissors – as well as the essential products for their maintenance . The quality of the tools directly influences the quality of the work: learning to equip oneself properly and to maintain one's equipment from the beginning is a true foundation for the profession.

- For Juju, a fellow florist, the pretty box of mini soaps accompanied by a hand cream . Our hands are our most precious tools, and this profession puts them to the test every day. This duo would be the perfect gift to take care of them.

- For my best friend Marc, in Marseille, where his garden boasts a gigantic lemon tree at least 4 meters tall: a Japanese pruning shear . Perfect for safely harvesting its fruit from high places.

Could you tell us about a floral design project you particularly enjoyed recently?

There is a project we worked on this year that left a strong impression on me: a wedding at the Palace de Menthon, a place I am very fond of and which offers a magnificent setting for floral creation.

For this wedding, we worked with a delicate palette built around violets, lilacs and soft pinks. This colour harmony held deep meaning for the couple. It echoed the town where the groom grew up, a place that hosts an annual lilac festival during which the whole town is dressed in mauve tones. The idea was to create a poetic and slightly nostalgic atmosphere, a gentle nod to his roots.

The ceremony took place under the Palace’s pavilion, where we installed a large, airy floral arch and a flower-lined aisle to welcome the guests. Under the art deco glass roof, the dinner unfolded around a long tablescape dotted with textured compositions.

We had the chance to work with flowers of exceptional quality: spectacular bearded irises and charming pansies grown by Clément and Claudine Bouteille, delicate sweet peas from the Brossard family, as well as peonies, campanulas and many other varieties.

Sourcing flowers is an essential part of our creative process. It is a step I deeply love and still cannot delegate, because it so strongly shapes the outcome of a project. That is where everything begins: finding the right varieties, in the right colours, with the right textures, the ones that will give each composition its character and emotion.

This wedding was a true pleasure to imagine and to bring to life, both for the beauty of the place and for the symbolism of the flowers and the richness of the collaborations.

You have published a very comprehensive and educational book on floral design for future florists, you offer many workshops and courses, what do you most like to pass on to those who work with you?

What I love most to convey to the people I work with, or meet during workshops and classes, is confidence in themselves and their choices. In floral design, as in any creative practice, it's easy to doubt oneself or compare oneself to others. I try to show that every gesture, every decision, every composition has its legitimacy, and that it's important to dare to explore, experiment, and trust yourself.

Beyond techniques, I primarily want to provide the tools so that everyone feels capable of creating with freedom and authenticity, affirming their sensitivity and personal perspective.

Floral Design Book - Eyrolles Publishing

Is there someone whose conversation you would love to read in this botanical format?

Marlène, from the flower farm Les Bâtisses in Dordogne. She is truly passionate about flowers, and she is fascinating when she talks about her work. I would love to read her conversation in this botanical format.

Thank you very much, Justine, for taking the time to answer our questions.