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P E R S P E C T I V E S : I M A G E S O F O U R S TAT E
Preservation Press
ANNE AND HANNAH VENABLE REVEL IN THE CREATIVE MAGIC OF DRIED BOTANICALS By Jordan LaHaye Fontenot
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n college, Anne C. Venable was a ture-regulated press room, which fea- ture content is as low as possible as the flower thief. “I was stealing them,” tures Anne’s custom wooden presses, flowers are squeezed flat, a particular said the founder of Preservation which were hand-crafted by her father challenge in humid South Louisiana. Press, laughing. “If I was just rid- in five different sizes. With the excep- The general rule of thumb for pressing ing around town on my bike, I would tion of a rogue petal sticking out here is two to three weeks, but to ensure the just stop and pick flowers.” At the time, Anne was studying Exercise Science at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and was just pressing flowers as a hobby—“I saw something in a magazine, and I couldn’t afford it, so I just started learning the trade.” She said she remembers sitting at home on Friday nights with two computer monitors open to Youtube videos demonstrating different techniques, taking notes. “I just found it so fascinating. I was so intrigued that I just wanted to learn, learn, learn.” Over a decade later, Anne’s initial curiosity has turned into a full-blown botanical preservation business with four employees, five hand-made flower presses, and a brand-new retail space in Downtown Lafayette. Anne’s very first employee was her wife, Hannah Venable—who is now a vital part of the business as the Lead Designer of Preservation Press. “Hannah was born to do flower work,” said Anne. “She is a true talent in this business, and it shows. Whenever she started dabbling, I was like ‘Wow, you’re really good’—her little razor blades, just cutting and trimming. I’m still fascinated when I watch her.” Artwork by Hannah Venable. Image courtesy of Preservation Press. Leading me through their new location on Vermilion Street, the couple reveled in the sheer space it of- and there, the room is filled almost to best possible results, Anne and Hannah fers—with designated rooms for each the ceiling with what appears to be keep flowers in the press for six to eight. step of the process and a stunning, stacks of paper and cardboard. “What After the flowers are fully dehyhigh-ceilinged retail area. When I visit- we do is we kind of deconstruct every- drated, they are moved to “Hannah’s ed, they were still getting things set up, thing by petal, and then place them in Room,”—the “design territory, as I like but the exposed brick wall was already the paper,” said Anne. “Then you wrap to call it,” said Anne. The magic takes adorned from floor to ceiling in Pres- it around the cardboard and put it in place on a drafting table, where Hanervation Press’s signature mixed-media the press. We change the paper every nah spends most of her days recreating pieces: flower pelicans, alligators, balle- Monday, Wednesday, Friday over the bridal bouquets in the two dimensionrinas, and even a sweet rose petal pig— course of like six to eight weeks, de- al and transforming funeral flowers interspersed with minimalist herbarium pending on the type of flowers.” into bluebirds. Once she has arranged boards centering a palmetto frond, a Pressing, at its simplest form, is a pro- the hundreds of delicate petals in a fern, a single orange poppy. cess of removing water from flowers. way that the client is happy with, she The process begins in the tempera- The paper changes ensure that mois- sweeps them off of the drafting paper 74
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to begin the final process of reconstruction. Picking up a stray peony petal, she points out how thin it is—“I use backings that I cut out and glue to every single petal before laying it down for the final arrangement,” Hannah said. A peony, mind you, can have up to one hundred petals to layer on top of one another in order to recreate the flower. “It’s definitely a very delicate, very tedious process,” she added. “I think it is undervalued by a lot of people,” said Anne. “They don’t realize quite the level of intensity and attention to detail that this art form requires, and the time.” This spirit of careful craft carries through to the very end of the process, to the framing area—where Anne offers custom framing for each and every piece. Though weddings and funerals are Preservation Press’s bread and butter—“We’re like deep in the funeral industry,” said Anne—both women continue to be creatively inspired, and challenged, by the art form’s range. “I’ve made like one thousand birds,” said Hannah. “Like I could do it in my sleep. I’m not even sure how I got into the birds. I just love tiny, very detail-intricate themes.” In her hands, leaves and flower petals re-emerge as butterflies, playing cards, Frida Kahlo, sugar skulls, and even Darth Vader. For Anne, it still goes back to that initial fascination with the process of pressing. “The magic of it … seeing a flower go from three-dimensional to flattened,” she said. “I think it’s always so exciting taking the flowers out of the press and seeing how the colors turn out. I’m definitely still hanging on to that. Those little moments of magic in the press.” h
Preservation Press will host a grand opening at their new location (118 W Vermilion Street Lafayette) at the end of March. For custom orders, visit preserve-press.com.
