Flor de Luiz at the MAC takes Luiz to the Flower Mart

Luiz shines with a special light when he is arranging flowers. If you’ve seen him in this endeavor you know he gets lost in thought, floats slightly above the ground and quietly whistles to himself as he works. I love to watch.

Next week there’s an all-night event at the Contemporary Art Museum of Niterói (MAC) featuring flowers by Luiz's own Flor de Luiz. The space is super cool, indeed designed to be out-of-this-world by the world famous architect Oscar Niemeyer. Below are pictures of the museum. Follow this link to see the super chic bistro space being used for the event (once there click closed [fechar] the yellow pop-up featured info to see a panaramic view outside the museum). More event info here.





So on Thursday we went to the flower market in Rio de Janeiro to scope out the possibilities. In San Francisco we were spoiled to have one of the largest flower markets in the United States. It is a huge complex taking up nearly an entire city block in an industrial area of town. Stall after stall of flower vendors selling their wares: spectacular flowers from all over the world.






Here in Brazil it’s done in a similar, but simpler fashion. Envision a large parking lot with a tin roof some three stories above your head. Instead of stalls there are parking spaces. Large trucks line up one beside the other and spill their cargo out the back into rows of buckets.



Some folks present a scandal of tropical flowers; others sell every imaginable leafy green or branch. Among the flowers are vendors presenting all manner of containers, ribbons, floral foam and armatures. It’s pretty much a parallel universe to the San Francisco market, just a bit more narrow in selection, and probably a third the number of vendors.



Still – lots to play with. Luiz found his way to just what he was looking for.