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Top Shops: Love on Locke
Muscari Floral Atelier an upscale floral experience |
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Written by Jennifer Walker
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In one incredible whirlwind of a year Benjamin Baranas and Katsiaryna (Katya) Dzerabina met, fell in love, got married, moved from New York City to Hamilton, Ont., and then opened their own flower shop on the very street where Baranas started his career a decade ago.
While working as creative director for a Manhattan event planner he met Dzerabina-Baranas, an interior design student on a work visa from Belarus. A few months later they married in an intimate ceremony in New York City.
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| Muscari Floral Atelier of Hamilton, Ont., is a shop carefully merchandised to create a stylish décor that provides a stunning backdrop to the unique greenery and original floral designs on offer. |
With their Manhattan loft full of romance and paperwork, they planned for their life together in Canada. The plan was to open their own flower shop in Montreal, a market with a style and culture that coincided with their vision. The name was carefully selected: Muscari, the Italian name for grape hyacinthus, and Floral Atelier to coincide with Quebec’s business laws of having a name, at least in part, in French.
Before leaving for Montreal, they went to Hamilton to visit with family and friends. The couple took a walk down Locke Street, where Benjamin had begun his career at La Jardiniere Flower Market.
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At a Glance
Company Name: Muscari Floral Atelier
Location: Hamilton, Ont.
Owner: Benjamin Baranas and Katya Dzerabina-Baranas
Facility Space: 900 square feet
Website: www.muscariatelier.ca
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A “For Rent” sign in the window of a small retail space made Baranas recall advice from a mentor of his, “Location is everything.” With the resurgence of boutiques and spas in the vicinity, he knew he wanted to be a part of it.
After an intense few weeks of painting, decorating and restoring furniture pieces – and organizing the business end – they opened the doors of the 360-square-foot Muscari Floral Atelier on March 15, 2008.
Pleased, exhausted and running on the mere steam of their excitement, Baranas and Dzerabina settled into their new roles with fervor.
But time knows no bounds and just across the street stood a bare 900-square-foot, brand, new retail space. True to their spur-of-the-moment nature, they seized the opportunity. Baranas recalls saying, “Let’s think with 20/20 foresight instead of 20/20 hindsight. I don’t want any regrets.”
While running the boutique across the street, they were busy creating original pieces and recycling found treasures for the new shop. They infused the space with the character and style and warmth that you’d expect from a space that has been there for some time, not one that has been fashioned in mere weeks. Three months later, the shop moved to the new location.
Although the timing of events may seem spontaneous, Baranas has been carefully crafting his career for years. Knowing from very early on that he wanted to work for himself, he learned with every opportunity from those highly regarded in the field of flower art and design. He trained under some of the world’s top floral designers from France, Holland and Germany at upscale shops in Toronto, Banff, Montreal, Boston and Manhattan.
The result is an absolutely stunning atmosphere with décor pieces found both locally and from as far away as India and Belgium. The tables are loaded with unique blooms, stunning greenery and centrepieces, and artful décor surrounds the perimeter of the store.
A monochromatic design with the merchandise displayed in palettes and quadrants remains the same in vision as the first store, but the larger area allows for more creativity that the couple showcases with original works. They’ve been able to infuse their personal style into all the basics they needed to have in the shop. The stylish, seemingly floating, sink – a functional large, white, square basin embellished with nickel taps, the reclaimed 1930s tin ceiling tiles used on the bar-style counter and the hip take on a restored 1956 cooler salvaged from one of Canada’s oldest interior design firms and painted black inside and out. Of course, these pieces are secondary to those taking centre stage, the flowers.
They don’t carry lilies, mums, carnations or even red roses. They don’t have typical orders for their shop to fill each week. It’s a mix of hand-picked items from vendors and local “secrets.” Their signature Black Magic Vanda Orchid is brought in as soon as the grower says they are ready. Those that frequent the store have come to expect the unique colours and varieties. Setting them apart from the supermarket varieties is also the fact that they don’t have pre-made arrangements in the refrigerator. Everything is made specifically and personally for the client.
Though they are a niche marketplace, the appeal is wide, with the prices ranging from about $40 for an introductory bouquet to about $100 for a larger bouquet, presented with unique foliage, the stems pinned and bound beautifully in fabric with satin detailing in their now branded colours of black and grey. More elaborate planters and ornate pieces with greenery can range from $200 to $1,000.
The couple sought out custom tissue, papers, bags and ribbon in their now branded colours of black and grey. Customization has always been key to them but starting on a shoestring budget made them seek out alternatives.
Flowers are a luxury item and the couple want their packaging to reflect that. “If someone spends $100, what’s $3 spent on packaging?” They know that the money spent goes well beyond clients feeling pampered. “It’s one way to set yourself apart,” Baranas says. “Don’t limit yourself. Go above what’s readily available.”
They have a signature note card, an enlarged version of their business card, left blank on the back for a personal message. The duo also came up with a concept for the delivery slips that keeps the tags intact, preventing any confusion for deliveries. They are made of a coated vellum on which water beads up. The ink won’t bleed and the tags won’t wilt in the humidity of the refrigerator.
Customization carries over into the way they work with weddings and events. They never “copy” a picture that is brought in. Instead, they ask what the client likes about it, and create original works.
Another way they add a more personal experience for their customers is by showcasing the new colours and materials of the season with two open houses a year – one in late fall and one in spring. “It keeps the clients interested in what we’re doing,” says Baranas.
Though Baranas’s favourite work remains the design work, as the business grows, he needs to leave much of the everyday design up to his wife while he focuses on the paperwork. A small design staff in-house and freelance designers help out as needed.
With confidence in his wife as he speaks, Baranas explains how she dissects the flowers and materials, taking her time, enjoying the process with a soft, yet focused, approach that produces outstanding results.
“She learned all of this in six months,” he says looking at her, shaking his head in both awe and disbelief that she has learned an art that is normally crafted over years. “She has shown me so many new ways of doing things. Mostly from asking “why?” or “why not?”
With their love and business growing, Benjamin says he still can’t quite wrap his head around it all. “It feels like a dream.”
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