Specializing in floral arrangements, sisters Lauren, Leah and Cali Palmer make up the talented team of The Wild Mother Creative Studio, 629 W Sheridan Ave. What started out as an affinity for entertaining with flowers turned to arranging flowers and curating a look for the special moments of their clients’ lives.
405 Magazine chatted with Lauren Palmer about their start and what inspires them.
How did the Wild Mother come into being?
A: Leah and I both attended (Oklahoma Baptist University) at the same time … both studying arts and humanities. We always thought pursuing a business adventure together would be something fun to do; however, flowers were not the original idea. I always had flowers around my home and around when entertaining. This passion became known to friends, so some started asking us to help them with their weddings. Once we started getting phone calls from people we didn’t know, we felt like we were being guided towards this being a business venture.
Where did the name “Wild Mother” come from?
A: Leah was studying poetry her junior year and I was studying a lot of opera, as well as anthropology, so we were inspired by a lot of the things in nature that were in the texts and the lyrics that we were reading, learning and performing. So, we landed on a concept of nature being like a mother and caring and providing for her children.
Q: Where do you look for inspiration – not only in the actual creativity of your products, but also in how you operate The Wild Mother?
A: We didn’t have floral mentors or traditional floral design training. While we are classically trained artists in other disciplines, floral design is something that is just innate. We do, however, have people we are inspired by. We feel like it is really important to not live or create in a vacuum, but to be inspired by other artists that are creating in other mediums. We lean pretty heavily on that creative community that started when we were really young. Art ends up being a character in our story that ends up being a mentor to us.
Q: This year has been so strange; how has the current situation affected the Wild Mother and the three of you?
A: What is the most interesting to us is that we were able to pivot to a conversation about representation in the wedding industry during not only the pandemic, but the civil unrest around systemic racism. What we are finding refreshing is that we have posted how we are … feeling as Black and afro women, and it sparked a conversation that is so special. We’ve talked to people all over the world. At the height of the spring season when flowers are bursting from the ground, we weren’t able to have access to them. So, we pivoted and put most of our time and attention into our nonprofit, The Conversation Workshop. The responses from not only the community here, but from around the world (including) florists, caterers and others in the wedding industry, have been amazing.
We want to protect The Wild Mother and the space we have created for art and healing through art, but we also decided that we cannot afford to (sidestep) the conversation. We are still learning and growing. Visit thewildmother.com
