family's fruit orchard and potager. In contrast to the hip bustle of NewYork's NOLITA district where her small, windowed storefront is located, her shop captures the fresh feeling and spontaneity of that rural innocence, and her flowers always seem just picked from the garden. "Often what attracts me is just the simple flower- the generosity of ranunculus, the wild delicacy of clematis, the snake-skin-like pattern of the fritillaria's bell-shaped flower," saysAnouchka. "Sometimes things are beautiful in and of themselves, and if you add too much, or you think too much, you kill the beauty of it."

Filled as it is with each season's freshness - pink sweet peas, anemones in soft pastels, delicate ranunculus - she sees her flowers and simple arrangements as just one element of an entire lifestyle. "I love the style of the 1940s, and I like to work with vintage pieces from that  period," saysAnouchka. "There is  omething very feminine and at the same time very masculine about the style. In my arrangements, I'm always trying to balance something rough with something delicate. "In the arrangement above, ranunculus contrasts with eucalyptus, moss and astrantia. Vintage apothecary bottles are available starting at $10.