THE HOURGLASS

Not long after, Ossmann created a garden in the backyard of her Williamsburg apartment. She grew more flowers there, then started selling them outside the Bedford Cheese Shop. Her flower stand led to commissions and weddings. Soon, Pretty Street Botanicals was born. Ossmann’s arrangements are known for their untamed quality. “I love the Dutch masters and Japanese arrangements,” she says. “But my pure instinct is to really work with a more wild, natural style.”

Ossmann met the photographer Alice Gao through a mutual friend, and they have collaborated on still-life images ever since. It was Ossmann who supplied the flowers for the image Gao created for Whisper Editions. “First, I made an arrangement, a loose bouquet,” Ossmann says. “One of the peonies was so beautiful, it was almost too much. So we took it out. This is the peony Alice ended up photographing for the picture. It was so beautiful by itself.”