Quick Q&A with The French Florists of Portefoin

Portefoin is the hottest up and coming florist in Paris, France. Only opened since September, it already has a growing fanbase of fashion insiders, including designer Olivier Theyskens. Started by Manon Prothon and Julien Lenglet, the concept behind the shop is quite clever. The duo teamed up with the digital art director and curator Pierre P. Marchal to create a sort of living floral art gallery. Each month the shop blooms into something different, reborn with a new range of bouquets created around a central theme and art pieces from emerging artists sourced by Marchal that blend in organically with the blooms. 

Here the duo talk about their love of David Bowie, what drew them to the floral arts and the challenge of daring to risk it all to follow a dream.  

A creation from Portefoin

How did you first get interested in being a florist?
Manon : I did photography before being florist, and I worked a lot with flowers. But I think for the two of us it’s something we really liked for a long time.

What made you finally decide to launch out on your own?
Julien : We met each others at the florist school in Paris in 2016 and then we wanted to work together. We had the same thoughts about floristry.

What was your big break?
Learning floristry even if it was intense. I don’t know if we can call this a break but…

Who inspires you?
Everything that surround us. Most of the time, details. We are interested in materials, colors and lights.
But if we had to say somebody in particular, because of his music and his personality : David Bowie.

Who living or dead would you love to be able to have dinner with?
Only dinner?

The Portefoin store.

What is your favorite trip?
Weekends in Europe cities.

When are you happiest?
When a new month is beginning, it’s so exciting for us to change the shop in something new every month.

What is the biggest challenge you are currently facing?
To do what we want and that people like what we are doing.

What is your secret talent ?
We like cooking.

What is your motto or the best piece of advice you ever got?
To listen to yourself, to dare taking risks.

What emoji do you use the most?

What is the latest Instagram feed you decided to follow?

One of the artist we have this month in the shop : morgane_pouillot

Jessica Michault

Jessica Michault is the Senior Vice President of industry relations at GPS Radar by Launchmetrics. She is also the editor-at-large for ODDA magazine and contributes to publications like the New York Times, the Business of Fashion, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Mixte magazine.