TOUCH Grass

Floral designer HIKARI YOKOYAMA understands the BENEFITS of BLOOMS. Her GUIDE to the GLOBE'S BEST GARDENS invites a RECONSIDERATION of our RELATIONSHIP with NATURE.

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A rose is a rose is a rose. Or is it? Hikari Yokoyama, the founder of the London-based floral studio Naum Flower, thinks deeply about the flowers she so artfully arranges. Her approach goes beyond the blooms and the stems, right down to the root of things—and even to the soil itself. “Everyone loves flowers, but they don’t realize that they are often grown in dirt—not soil—that is drenched in pesticides and herbicides,” Yokoyama says. With Naum, she aims to make the entire floral process, from the environment the blooms are grown in to the labor practices used to harvest them, ethical and beautiful.