HOLUALOA — When I recently re-connected with Christine L’Orange at her gorgeous landscape in Holualoa, I found her as energetic and creatively motivated as she was nearly 20 years ago. She is still growing lots of interesting plants at her home, but her current passion is designing floral installations for private clients.
Her design reputation is built on the unique quality of her individual pieces. In her designs, Christine incorporates natural objects that she finds in her environment built around interesting orchid specimens.
“My inspiration as based in the traditional Japanese aesthetic, wabi sabi. It is a way of seeing beauty in imperfection,” she said when I asked her to describe what inspires her work.
The beauty of Christine’s creations often highlight natural imperfections including objects that show signs of wear or impermanence. The beautiful and sometimes quite unusual orchids that she incorporates into her pieces often are the perfect complement to the other imperfect design elements. True wabi sabi.
Christine spent her youth in the dry climates of Arizona and Southern California. She came to Hawaii nearly 50 years ago and immediately fell in love with tropical plants. She soon started a business growing tropical foliage which she would lease and maintain for clients.
Over time she developed an interest and ability to create beautiful tropical designs. About 17 years ago, her love of orchids developed into their use as the centerpieces for her artistic designs. She is continuing to produce distinctive and unique pieces, has a growing client list and is truly passionate about her work.
Christine’s creative process starts with ordering orchid plants that inspire her. Some have unusual shapes and colors, though even the seemingly common specimens can provide a launching pad for her creativity. Over the years, she has developed valuable relationships with growers who are familiar with her work and her creative process.
Once the orchids arrive, she maintains them on nursery tables beside her house until she receives a new order or has a client deadline to meet. Often she knows the client and the house where her work will be installed. If not, she’ll often confer with the property manager to determine the personality of the place and decide on the best colors and size for the piece.
Then the fun begins.
“I walk through my garden, up the steps to the gardens around my lawn, down to the fish pond and around to the side garden,” Christine said about how she finds her inspiration. “I look for interesting plant parts or objects to get me started.”
Once she has amassed objects to include, she moves into her studio and begins her assembly until she is ready to add the final touches.
Though enjoying the creative process, she does have to maintain an awareness of the transporting and installation of her pieces.
“Transporting and installing a piece can sometimes be the most challenging part of the job,” she said.
In addition to creating and installing her pieces, she also agrees to maintain them and remove them when needed.
Christine’s garden is an obvious expression of her creative design sense.
Stone pathways wind through unusual orchid specimens and other attractive plants above her house. As we walked down her sloping landscape she pointed out lots of interesting species including some of her favorite orchids and the unique bat plant. We stopped briefly to watch the graceful fan-tail koi weave among the water lilies in her fishpond. Even the lower lawn and the side garden had interesting plants with stories to share.
Christine declared that her favorite plants were ones with unusual shapes or textures. She also admitted to an attraction to plants that move freely in the wind. She even likes to incorporate a sense of movement in her art. She declares that she actively tries to avoid stasis in her art and her life.
I could see that Christine’s wabi sabi sensitivity prevailed in her living space as well as in her garden.
A great example of her aesthetic was a sprouting sweet potato she had mounted in her kitchen window. Artistically beautiful today, its natural impermanence was a reminder of its artistic imperfection. Wabi sabi again.
As I was leaving, I complimented her on the beauty of her plants and her garden, Christine replied, “They create the beauty, I’m only here as the caretaker.”
And an excellent caretaker she is. It’s a pleasure to see plants grown, maintained and presented with such high regard.
Diana Duff is a plant adviser, educator and consultant living part time in Kailua-Kona.
