IN CONVERSATION WITH KELSIE HAYES

Interview by Samo Šajn

Photography by Carly Tice

Founded by Kelsie Hayes in 2016, POPUPFLORIST has grown from a small New York flower cart into one of fashion’s most sought-after floral studios. Known for immersive installations and pop-ups for brands including Prada, Hermès, Gucci, and Miu Miu. Hayes has built a world where floristry, storytelling, and fashion intersect. As POPUPFLORIST celebrates its 10-year anniversary, Kelsie reflects on the brand's evolution, the emotional power of flowers, and what Mother’s Day looks like behind the scenes of one of the busiest moments in the business.

You started as a fashion designer before teaching yourself floristry. What made you take that leap, and how does your fashion background still influence your work today?

The leap from fashion to starting POPUPFLORIST really came from noticing a shift in retail. Online shopping was at a high, and brands needed more meaningful ways to connect with their customers in person. Flowers felt like a universal language, emotional, memorable, and immediate. I became interested in creating floral experiences inspired by the clothing or products themselves, and how those moments could make someone feel truly connected to a brand.

My fashion background still influences everything I do. I approach florals the same way I would a garment, thinking about proportion, movement, palette, layering, and how something feels as much as how it looks.

POPUPFLORIST began with small pop-ups and a flower cart. What were those early days like, and at what point did you realize the concept had real momentum?

I love thinking about those early days, spilling out into the street for installations and taking over whatever space I could. The thing about the flower business is you really flex with space; some days your buckets are overflowing with flowers, and other days they’re completely empty. About a year in, I realized the brand had the potential to grow into so many different avenues, and luckily I was young and passionate enough to run with it.

Mother’s Day is such a major moment for your business. Why do you think it resonates even more deeply than Valentine’s Day in the world of floristry?

Mother’s Day is such a major consumer holiday, so it’s naturally one of our busiest and most exciting seasons. We love diving into a brand’s identity and creating thoughtful experiences that feel special, memorable, and emotionally connected to the customer.

This year, you are leading large-scale activations with brands like Prada and Carolina Herrera across multiple cities. How do you approach maintaining creativity and consistency at that scale?

When it comes to executing for a luxury brand, creating an experience that can be replicated across markets throughout North America is incredibly important. It’s about maintaining consistency in the feeling, quality, and brand identity, while still allowing each experience to feel thoughtful and personal. Over the years, we’ve been lucky to build relationships with amazing florists in other cities who help us bring these experiences to life.

Your work sits at the intersection of floristry and fashion. What makes flowers such a powerful medium for storytelling within luxury retail spaces?

Almost every fashion house and lifestyle brand has a floral identity. And when they don’t, that’s where we get to step in creatively and help develop one alongside the brand. Florals are such a powerful connector. They create emotion, atmosphere, and become a real extension of a brand’s identity.

You have built long-term relationships with clients like Gigi Hadid and major fashion houses. What do you think keeps those collaborations evolving year after year?

We really love the collaboration process and working with other creative houses and creative minds. The POPUPFLORIST brand is incredibly malleable. Our role is to bring a brand’s vision to life while layering in our own signature perspective and style.

I think what keeps those relationships evolving year after year is trust. Over time, clients know we deeply care about the details, understand how to translate a brand identity into flowers and experiences, and can execute that consistently at a high level.

As much as we love collaborating within a brand’s world, we also love when people really let us do our thing, leaning into what’s in season, what feels inspiring in the moment, and allowing the work to feel alive and emotionally connected.

You are debuting at the Chelsea Flower Show this year. What does that milestone mean to you personally and for the brand?

We’re currently working with one of our favorite brands, Veronica Beard, to design their display for Chelsea in Bloom, which coincides with the Chelsea Flower Show. Personally, it’s a really exciting project. Having the opportunity to create something overseas and work with some of the best floral products in the world is incredibly inspiring.

Flowers are deeply emotional. They connect to memory and meaning for people, whether through the look and feel of them or even just their scent. Both of those projects really show how flowers can convey what words sometimes can’t.

With projects like Love Letter Gallery and your book Say It With Flowers, storytelling is clearly central to your work. How do you translate emotion into something as physical and fleeting as flowers?

Flowers are deeply emotional. They connect to memory and meaning for people, whether through the look and feel of them or even just their scent. Both of those projects really show how flowers can convey what words sometimes can’t.

It’s a big responsibility to send flowers on behalf of people every day, and I’m not sure everyone realizes just how much impact that sentiment can have. Flowers hold emotion, memory, celebration, grief, and love, and getting to be a small part of those moments is something we never take lightly.

You have just opened HOUSE OF THREE in NoMad. What was the vision behind creating a permanent space, and how does it expand on the POPUPFLORIST experience?

We wanted to design a space that goes beyond the flowers. I love hosting, curating, and creating experiences. Every detail of House of Three has been considered. The beauty is in the small details you notice the longer you stay. It’s a great platform for POPUPFLORIST to be able to be creative with our floral design and bring people together to create.

This year marks 10 years of POPUPFLORIST. Looking back, how has your idea of success changed, and what still excites you about the next chapter?

Ten years feels really amazing. I’m so proud of what we’ve built, and especially proud that so many of our clients have been with us since the very beginning.

I started POPUPFLORIST when I was 26, and in the years since, I’ve met my husband and become a mother to our four-year-old daughter. Building a life and a business with my family so deeply woven into it has been incredibly special.

As I look ahead, I’m excited to continue growing House of Three and pushing my creativity beyond flowers, into design, hosting, and all the ways we can create meaningful experiences.