Anne Vitchen and the endless joy of flowers

I can think of no prettier name. It’s so chic! It was the director of the Ritz Paris who called me that when I first arrived. Instead of saying “Let me introduce you to our florist,” he said “Allow me to present our Lady of the Flowers.” And it’s stayed fresh ever since!

It was like walking into a jewelry store. To be honest, I’d envisioned a style both simple and sophisticated, and that’s not so easy to achieve. Simple means no mixing, while sophisticated means choosing the most beautiful flower of extraordinary quality.

To continue the jewelry theme, it needs to be elegant, feminine, and sophisticated. We use at most two or three varieties of flowers, and very little foliage. I’m very fond of round flowers, such as garden roses and peonies. As for colors, no yellow, orange or blue, and white only in the bedrooms. I also like there to be a sense of texture, and a hint of movement; perhaps a small leaf or a flower allowed to escape, like a controlled accident.

Our flowers are seasonal, sourced exclusively from Europe, and never air-freighted. We’ve been with the same Dutch supplier for 23 years. We also use the Fleurs d’Halage association, which grows flowers on the Île-Saint-Denis. We source the winter flowers, such as ranunculus and anemones, directly from Italy.

Yes, our floral arrangements really need to complement the Ritz Paris, not the other way around. In the lobby, for example, the flowers are the first thing you see when you walk in, so they have to be striking. For the guest rooms, we adapt to the ambiance. In the Suite Impériale we’ll work with shades of red, fuchsia, and burgundy, which harmonize perfectly with the tapestries. The Suite Coco Chanel sees only white flowers, and the Suite Windsor calls for very light colors: pale pinks, salmon tones, and beiges.

We work directly with our clients. Typically, they send us a mood board that helps us understand the style they’re after: perhaps a rustic feel, all white, whatever they have in mind. We then create a proposal based on that, outlining the types of flowers and color schemes, and sometimes present a prototype. Naturally, everything is always custom-made.

I love Christmas at the Ritz Paris. It transports you straight back to your childhood. In a single night, 25 people transform the hotel with the tree, the decorations, the lighting in the Grand Jardin… We arrive at 11:30pm, and everything must be finished by 8:00am. When we run into early-rising guests who discover the hotel completely transformed, it’s magical! For each year’s theme, the process of research and creation is a real labor of love. For the Surrealist Christmas we ordered 600 embroidered beaded eyes, butterflies, and keys, all bespoke. In the Salon Proust we created centerpieces featuring Magritte’s umbrella and a sleeping doe in a nest of flowers. It was gorgeous.

At one point it was the violet, but in the end I have to say the garden rose. I just find it so romantic, and it’s certainly stood the test of time. It’s timeless and fragrant, round and full-bodied, and appeals to all the senses.

That's exactly right. I am the "Lady of the Flowers", and she is the Queen.