KATIE CHIRGOTIS. Photography by: Sarah Falugo.

“Negative space and movement in my arrangements [are] usually what catches people’s eyes,” says Santa Cruz-based florist Katie Chirgotis, describing her innovative designs. “Things seem to be turning and pointing, they feel kinetic.” In Chirgotis’ case, art imitates life. She’s not one to sit still. The Virginia native left an advertising career and headed to Santa Cruz to study floral design—then decamped to Spain, followed by Oakland, before recently settling in Corralitos. Along the way, she apprenticed at San Francisco’s Studio Choo flower shop, then launching her own studio, Eothen (meaning “from the East” in Greek), two years ago. Her spontaneity leads her to seek out ephemeral trellises of wild honeysuckle, tall roadside grasses and even driftwood strewn along the region’s beaches. “Part of the romance of flowers is that nothing is permanent,” says Chirgotis. Here, the free-spirited creative shares some of the more lasting items and places that are catching her eye. eothenfloral.com.

Written by ELIZABETH VARNELL.