Jessica Herman

Drifting around the front room of her flower shop, stroking the stems of potted Cymbidiums and the billowy tops of Bells of Ireland, general manager Estelle Pizzou describes how Alice's Garden (3524 North Halsted) transforms into a private event space. Pizzou floats down the hallway, flanked on either side by a line of silver framed orange squares and a deep gray wall painted with a white cobweb design, to the swanky conference room and the bathroom where party guests are free to roam.

The modern, minimalist look is a new face for Alice's Garden, a floral establishment that has nested in various spots along Halsted, Broadway and Michigan in the past two decades. After joining forces with The Experiential Agency this fall, she assumed a new look, hip to the industry trend toward high-end floral boutiques.

"We're not making granny baskets," says Pizzou. The closest you'll see to basket arrangements are harbored in the workshop at the back of the store, where a confetti of foliage of every size, shape and texture is sprinkled across the floor.

When Alice isn't preparing to play hostess for jewelry parties or corporate banquets, she's home to an ever-changing selection of plants and flowers mostly from South America, Holland and California. Displayed on five asymmetrical frosted-glass tables, they are the room's centerpiece: cut and potted orchids; Jade plants; Amaryllis; spilling pink, white and yellow lilies; a triage of miniature succulents lining a long, skinny ceramic container. Showing her colors as a design-oriented flower boutique, Alice's floral displays range from simple splays of roses to an intricate arrangement of tulips wrapped around the circumference of a sheet of woven Lily Grass and Aspadistra Leaf resting at the bottom of stout vase.

A limited display of floral accessories decorate the shelves and tables around the edges of the room: Aunt Sadie's candles in subtle scents such as lavender and pine, clear trumpet-shaped vases and ceramic pots painted to resemble stalks of bamboo.

(2005-01-04)

Also by Jessica Herman

Skin spun
Rubbing shoulders with such Lincoln Park neighbors as Lush and Endo-Exo Apothecary, who also deal with matters of the skin, Powder Room (705 West Armitage) is the latest sugary sweet shop to open on Armitage
(2005-01-03)

Black Violin
If you can wait an entire year anticipating the moment that the clock strikes midnight on December 31, you can easily allow yourself to be immersed in the musical experience that is Black Violin for one night
(2004-12-21)

Dziner clothes
Images of fine-art prints slapped on cotton crew necks do not even attempt to downplay the disconnect between the art and the garment. However, collaborating with Japanese fashion designer Hirofumi Kiyonaga on a limited edition of SOPHNET clothing, Chicago artist Dzine minds the gap
(2004-12-21)

No sweatshop
The sweatshop-free phenomenon is spreading like pollen across the city
(2004-12-07)

Designs for living
(2004-12-07)

India chic
(2004-11-30)

The craft of giving
(2004-11-22)

Plush and stuff
(2004-11-22)

Fur or Faux?
(2004-11-17)

Body food
(2004-11-10)

Poster Boys
(2004-11-09)

Political circus
(2004-10-27)

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