an excerpt from
The iridescence
of objects
a conversation with Doan Ly
an excerpt from
The iridescence
of objects
a conversation with Doan Ly
photos Doan Ly
Doan Ly is the founder and creative director of a.p. bio, a floral design studio in New York City. Her work is at once exuberant and poised, unexpected yet classic.
PS: Many of your photographs have a still life, or painterly, quality to them. What inspires your visual style?
DL: I’m inspired by it all, from the seduction of the object in old master paintings to the play of light in contemporary installation artists like James Turrell. Throw in a dash of everyone in between. I’m inspired by film, photography, dance, theatre, songs, poetry. Currently, I’m trying to find a place in floral photography that feels intimate yet unknowable, like a warm fuzzy memory you can’t quite pinpoint.
PS: What's your creative process for choosing which type of flower to use for a particular shoot?
DL: It’s more haphazard than intentional. A lot of times I just use what I have at the studio left over from my events. It’s seasonal and changes every week. After finishing a day of designing, I like to have a little exploration time. A little time to be weird. It’s meditative and grounding (when it’s not a completely frustrating failure). Sometimes I pick flowers for their colour, sometimes it’s a shape that I intrigues me, and sometimes it’s the only thing still looking alive so it gets a good ol’ school portrait taken. Other times, it’s just a plastic bag, or a bottle. Beauty comes in all shapes. I spend time making tiny adjustments, I move things around and around and back again, change the light, add props, take them away, until the object sort of reveals itself to me — until I see it.
–
Find the rest of our conversation with Doan, plus exclusive prints of her work, in Issue One
PS: What's your creative process for choosing which type of flower to use for a particular shoot?
DL: It’s more haphazard than intentional. A lot of times I just use what I have at the studio left over from my events. It’s seasonal and changes every week. After finishing a day of designing, I like to have a little exploration time. A little time to be weird. It’s meditative and grounding (when it’s not a completely frustrating failure). Sometimes I pick flowers for their colour, sometimes it’s a shape that I intrigues me, and sometimes it’s the only thing still looking alive so it gets a good ol’ school portrait taken. Other times, it’s just a plastic bag, or a bottle. Beauty comes in all shapes. I spend time making tiny adjustments, I move things around and around and back again, change the light, add props, take them away, until the object sort of reveals itself to me — until I see it.
–
Find the rest of our conversation with Doan, plus exclusive prints of her work in Issue One
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© 2019 Perfect Strangers LLC. All Rights Reserved.
