IMMERSE YOURSELF IN LOCAL FLOWERS
Updated: 3 hours ago
Bring your talents to the Filoli Floral Takeover at the 2027 Slow Flowers Summit
In addition to lectures, panels, and demonstrations, the Slow Flowers Summit is a showcase for locally-grown and American-grown flowers, sustainable design and education, and a celebration of the season character of flowers.
Creatives who attend the 2027 Summit will bring their artistry to the event, responding to the inspiring landscape and historic residence at Filoli – and YOU are invited to join in the floral fun!
Meet Our Floral Takeover Team
It’s going to be an unforgettable experience, with a lot of moving parts to such an ambitious undertaking involving more than 100 participants and thousands of stems of flowers – all converging at the estate’s 56-room, 54,256-square-foot Georgian Revival Style mansion, originally constructed between 1915-1917.
We welcome two longtime Slow Flowers members to our Floral Takeover Team – and we’re grateful for their leadership and experience.
Serving as CREATIVE DIRECTOR, TERESA SABANKAYA has a deep familiarity with Filoli, having taught and designed there over the years. Teresa was a featured speaker at our first Slow Flowers Summit in 2017 and she also presented when we gathered at Filoli in 2021. Teresa is taking the lead on creative direction for each room of the Mansion’s floral color palette and will handle planning and coordination with the Filoli staff. She will be the main contact for each room’s design lead and teams. Bring your creativity and talents! We will have tools, compostable materials, reusable supplies, and tons of flowers for your use!
We asked Teresa to describe her approach to the Floral Takeover, and she said: “Not only is it exciting that this is the 10th anniversary of the Summit, but how cool is it that we’ll be together at Filoli, which is on The National Trust of Historic Places. It’s amazing that we get to fill the mansion with Slow Flowers! Also, I’m thrilled to learn more about Filoli’s English Renaissance-style gardens, which are described as “remarkably well-preserved as one of the few surviving and best examples of the style in the world.”
And a special thank you to KELLY SHORE, our FLORAL COORDINATOR. Like Teresa, Kelly is a longtime floral designer whose studio, Petals by the Shore is based on the values of Slow Flowers, including using foam-free mechanics. She was a presenter at our 2018 Slow Flowers Summit in Washington, D.C.
Through her company THE FLORAL SOURCE, Kelly is coordinating the major floral donations and contributions that will ensure we have beautiful, high-quality, fresh botanicals for the Floral Takeover. The Floral Source is a 100% American grown, farm-direct wholesale broker and we’re so happy to partner with our friend and member Kelly to make the floral takeover a don’t-miss success!
Slow Flowers Summit Floral Takeovers Through The Years
We have created beautiful experiences at each Slow Flowers Summit, designed to combine artistry, innovation, and creative engineering as our attendees team up to “flower” our host venues. Popular group installations began on a small scale and soon mushroomed into more ambitious undertakings.
How many of these do you remember? Or helped to create?
2017 – a foam-free Flower Wall at our first Summit in Seattle
2018 – a floral moon gate in Washington, D.C.
2019 – Free-standing three-dimensional, multi-sided floral installation led by Tobey Nelson in the Twin Cities
2020 – let’s not forget the year that got away from us
2021 – We were rewarded the following year, as together attendees created a dazzling Floral Takeover at Filoli Historic House and Garden, flowering no fewer that a dozen indoor and outdoor spaces at our Bay Area gathering.
2022 – we designed several large-scale floral installations The Red Barn at Maple Grove Farm in Bedford, New York, with instruction led by TJ McGrath.
2023 – attendees added Pacific Northwest florals and foliage to the grounds and architectural features of Bellevue Botanical Garden with large-scale, site-specific floral installations, al fresco-style.
2024 – in Banff, Alberta, our attendees participated in three immersive experiences to learn a range of skills from Hitomi Gilliam, Heather Henson, and Lourdes Still.
2025 & 2026 – we gathered online and watched design installations from several speakers
2027 – we are back in the Bay Area at Filoli Historic House & Garden!
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