Dear Friends, 

Mark Victor Hansen once said, “By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be.” Ten years ago the validity of a young boys dream had only been held accountable in his head and more often was solely a verbal response to one of life's biggest questions – what do you want to be when you grow up? "I want to create," he would tell anyone who would listen. Dubiously, his father told him he would not make any money creating and would only get gunned-down by a gang in the big city. Despite that, the boy made a vow to himself that he would create in his lifetime, even if he had to live under a bridge to do so. As fate would have it, that is exactly where he ended up - sleeping under a viaduct with more hopes and dreams than belongings. Daily he wrote affirmations in a slim yellow notebook of a future he imagined. An early entry reads, “I feel a bit like Elizabeth Taylor, minus the plethora of diamonds and vodka-fueled fights with Richard Burton. But in a way that I am bored with my surroundings. I have somehow mastered the art of being homeless. I want to work. I want to inspire. I want to change.”

After being homeless, I forced myself into an industry that has allowed me to embrace even grander delusions than alikling ones penniless self to Elizabeth Taylor. For me, flowers have been that of a rewarding illness with one simple symptom - the chronic compulsion to create. The offset being the time I spent attempting to tame my delusions. I placed myself in wards to cure any indication society might ridicule me for. Forcing oneself into a societal mould is, at its very core, a self lobotomy. While the procedure was successful in making those around me more comfortable, the expense was the personality and flair my design work needed to exist. The mistakes I had to make so I could free myself from perfection. The bridges I had to burn so I could walk on. The years I wasted trying to be someone I never could be will always be missed. Today, I chose to feel the fallacy and explore the delusion. This will be the spark to ignite the design work you will see as I grow this brand. 

The Twisted Tulip will serve as a daily, on-going experiment to satisfy a delusional me. I invite you to step into my world of insanity; wild with intent and dripping in flowers. 

Cheers, 

Jake