If you weren't already aware, Earth Day is tomorrow, and what better way to celebrate than to feature someone who uses recycled flowers from our Miami branch to connect with the Earth in the form of floral mandalas? Rodolfo Reis has found a way to combine his passion for yoga & meditation with his love of flowers and bring that to the beaches of Miami for others to enjoy during their practice.
We asked Rodolfo a few questions about how he started doing this, and what flowers mean to him. Enjoy!
Can you start by telling us your flower story, and how you got into flowers to begin with?
I am a Brazilian flower designer for 30 years. I studied sacred geometry and mandalas, so I took the flowers of events training to my mandalas concept. Every place in the world I traveled I did mandala (land art) so I leave the mandala in this place for a while or shared the flowers or material with the people before the ceremony to bless the flowers.
What inspired you to start using leftover flowers to create these beautiful mandalas on the beach?
I live around the beach, and when I am doing ceremonies with friends - meditation and yoga - flowers are necessary to every event because they mean love, life good vibrations so I started to do it with the recycled flowers from the place I had work.
How does your passion for meditation & yoga play into your designs or design philosophy?
I practice meditation and frequent spiritual ceremonies for more than 20 years, so every time my contribution is the flowers to give some beauty to events.
When you are doing events, do you try to implement sustainable practices?
We are always thinking about the wellness around us. The concept is gathering people to feel better and connect with the natural environment.
What changes or improvements do you think we could be making as an industry to be more sustainable, less wasteful, and more mindful of protecting this beautiful planet of ours?
Saving the different species of flowers is very important, many future generations won't know about the amazing collection of the flowers there are in the world. The silk flowers sometimes are valid but nothing compares with fresh flowers. Plant, flowers, preserved flowers are important to save the beauty of the flowers in the world.
It wouldn't be a Mayesh interview without one final question - what is your favorite flower?
Blue Iris
I am so grateful for Mayesh's support last week for two ceremonies I did for different groups on the beach. The fresh flowers always bring to us pure energy and beauty everywhere. The concept that the flowers are just for funerals is old. Flowers bring life, beauty, and good energy everywhere for every occasion in life. Flowers are necessary, like food to me. I live and support myself all my life with flowers!!! 🌸 Using recycled flowers is a way I found to show my gratitude for all flowers I used for events and other jobs.