Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Click here for additional images of Ken Miesner's Flowers.
It’s why the word “crass” so often precedes “commercialization”: The more emphasis we put on acquiring stuff as a way to celebrate, the harder it is to find things worth keeping for a lifetime. Instead, we grab trendy trimmings, gaudy garland, and glued-felt stockings at the big-box stores, just so we can watch it all fall apart the following year.
The namesake floral designer of Ken Miesner’s Flowers (Plaza Frontenac, 314-567-6650, ken-miesner.com) refuses to reduce the season to such a mockery. “When I think of the holidays, I think of special personal times with family and friends, surrounded by beautiful things,” he says. His gift shop carries artisan wreaths and doormats to welcome your guests; snow globes, Mizzou Santas, and sleigh-harnessed reindeer to amuse them; embellished tea towels to dab at a giddy splash of wassail.
There are heavy rush baskets overflowing with evergreens and holly; fruit wreaths that do credit to Colonial Williamsburg; silk magnolia wreaths that will fool anyone without a magnifying glass. A family of owls perches on one wreath’s branches, and a tree is decorated with owls, cardinals, and real bird’s nests.
If you want to craft your own centerpiece, he’ll even sell you bright berries, eucalyptus, branches, and greenery, so you won’t have to raid a forest by flashlight and fill your pockets with soggy pine cones.
“We carry what our customers love,” Miesner says. This includes exquisite Victorian angel ornaments, Museum of Metropolitan Art cards, red-cheeked Byers’ Choice carolers, Mark Roberts’ fey fairies… Miesner’s own tastes lean Anglophile, with rich velvet tree skirts and stockings, as well as the holiday crackers that Brits have been snapping open for treats since the 1840s. He’s not opposed to modern ease, though; he offers lighted tabletop trees and battery-timed candles. The difference is, these trees are custom-designed, and the candles are covered in real wax.
