About Olive Willow
Olive Willow Designs is a luxury floral design studio focused on creating one of a kind arrangements for clients who appreciate and respect the art of design and custom curated work. We pride ourselves in our commitment to the design process while including our client’s unique style and perspective. This ensures that our work is tailored to each client’s personal aesthetic and enriches the overall all experience of the event & places our art is viewed.
We love to create for every occasion, whether that is a beautiful wedding, birthday bash, intimate dinner party, corporate event, in house floral arrangements, or a one on one design mentorship session. We operate out of Orange County but love to travel and design in new and different locations. As long as we can ship or bring flowers, we can create.
Behind the name
Olive
The symbolism behind an offering of an olive branch has always been beautiful to us. It represents a sense of understanding and companionship we wish to express in our work, bringing people together in community. From sitting down to a meal with friends, or cooking dinner, olive oil is a part of our every day lives. An everyday item full of refinement and quality. Often an exciting start to a moment with loved ones. Olive represents our commitment to community, authenticity, and quality.
Willow
From a young age, Alise has always been fascinated by willow trees; their uniqueness, the way they drape and fall and the texture of their leaves. They appear elegant, pristine, versatile, and are fun to climb. Willows are constantly growing upwards but are still humbly grounded at the same time. like the trees, We strive to be unique and fun with an experience of solidarity and grace. Willows represent our commitment to growth while still being grounded and focused on clients.
TOGETHER
Furthermore, since we love designing with an abundance of textural greenery to make our signature garden essence designs, it seems only appropriate that the name should also represent our work in such a manner. Placing together similar yet different varieties of plant and botanical life to create a moment where the variety works together in harmony as one.
Alise Davis: Owner and PRINCIPAL Designer
Alise has an entrepreneurial spirit and has been shaped by communal, educational, and creative work. Her start in the arts began in college focusing on visual art and event design. In 2011, after working for five years as a production assistant and lead event staff at The Museum of Photographic Arts, she found herself learning floral design working for The Floral Lab in North County. In 2013 she started her own company Sweet Marie Designs (Marie is her middle name and she is fond of Bob Dylan) and has had the pleasure of seeing it grow and flourish quicker than she ever imagined.
As her work as a designer and business owner continued to develop and mature, she updated the company with a brand refresh including a name change and Olive Willow Designs was created; a clearer representation of the company's style, focus, and values.
Her drive and motivation behind her work is to create beautiful statement pieces with lush textural greenery and premium bloom varieties for communal gatherings. Her absolute favorite events to design for are intimate dinner parties. She hopes her work will excite conversation and provide an overall sense and appreciation for community. She has had the privilege to work on a large scale with wedding design and usually books her 15 events a year very quickly with these clients. She hopes the future will hold more mentorship programs such as conducting one on one sessions/workshops where she can encourage others to follow their creative dreams and help them along the way, as well as, investing more energy in home floral design.
When she is not in the office or studio, she is often relaxing with family and friends, partaking in new and challenging yoga classes at her local studio, traveling, tinkering with her old film cameras, or reading a book with an Anthropologie candle lit near by. Although she has been asked many times before, she can not narrow her favorite bloom variety to just one. Her top picks (in no particular order) are: Clematis, Hellebore, Ranunculus, field picked garden roses (especially those from Ella Rose Farm or Peterkort), Foxglove, and/or Daffodils.
