Karla Smith-Brown is a floral artist and the founder of OLIVEE Floral, a Brooklyn-based floral design studio.

 

Karla’s lifelong enchantment with the unyielding beauty of nature serves as the foundation for her craft. Karla utilizes seasonal flora and possesses an instinctive discernment for color theory, creating dynamic compositions. 

 

As a first generation Canadian of Jamaican descent, Karla has always felt connected to her Caribbean heritage and how it has influenced her understanding of the world. After returning to Jamaica as an adult in 2018, Karla immediately felt energized by the lush surroundings, familiar scents, and distinct tastes of her family’s homeland in Saint Elizabeth Parish. While immersed in the vibrant energy, bountiful land, and nurturing spirit of the parish, Karla felt inspired to pursue floristry full-time from that point on.  As a way to honor her heritage, Karla named her studio after her great-grandmother, Olivee.

 

OLIVEE is a sustainable floral studio where deliberate choices are made that protect the health of the earth and the people involved in the short lifespan of a singular cut flower. OLIVEE’s sustainable practices include: sourcing locally grown material, omitting the use of flower foam and other harsh chemicals in each design, composting flower waste, and working in tandem with artists who repurpose flower waste to create natural dyes.

 

Karla works in the fashion, beauty, design, gastronomic, and luxury spaces with clients including VOGUE, Interview, Wales Bonner, Bottega Veneta, Laquan Smith, Birkenstock, Dior Parfum, Champagne Bollinger, Hennessy, Google and many others. OLIVEE Floral also holds a floral residency at Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi at Lincoln Center.