Beauty in Bloom

Sophia Moreno-Bunge ’09’s flower arrangements appear, well, anything but arranged. They hew closer to compositions, some restrained and sculptural, others lush and wild: a red heliconia languishing in front of spikey fan palm or an explosion of dogwood, milky oats, and local garden roses. Whether the scale is small or large, or the style verdant or blossomy, Moreno-Bunge brings an artist’s sensibility to the work she does at Isa Isa, the floral design studio she founded in Los Angeles in 2014.     

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But this makes perfect sense for Moreno-Bunge, who studied art history and visual arts at Barnard and later trained as a photographer. While living and working in New York after graduation, she happened upon a New York Times article about the sculptor-turned-florist Emily Thompson. Her interest was piqued, and soon she landed a job at Thompson’s studio. “I reached out to her because I loved her work,” recalls Moreno-Bunge. She stayed there for three years, learning the tricks of the trade and helping Thompson create her fantastical, larger-than-life installations before returning home to California to start her own business.     

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Moreno-Bunge set up shop in Santa Monica, the beachfront community where she grew up, and named the studio Isa Isa as an homage to her two Argentine grandmothers, who were both named Isabel. (She fondly recalls summers spent on her paternal grandmother’s farm in Patagonia.) For Moreno-Bunge, the Southern California landscape — the citrus trees, the native flowers, the rugged hillsides — has yielded plenty of inspiration and material for her floral designs. The goal, she says, is to “create something smart but locally sourced.” With a focus on fresh, seasonal blooms, she visits the flower market in downtown L.A. regularly with her small team. “We’re really lucky,” she says, “because there are a lot of local growers.”     

Just eight years after launching the studio, Moreno-Bunge has attracted a dedicated following, with a client list that includes hotels and brands such as Chanel, Proper Hotels, Glossier, and Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, among others. In addition to servicing private clients and events, she styles for photoshoots, bringing her background in visual arts into play. “A lot of time we’re dealing with spaces, different interiors, so that can inform what we choose and [what] inspires us,” she says. “The spaces, the materials, the colors, the textiles — that’s the starting-off point.”     

These days, Isa Isa’s dramatic arrangements and installations can be found all across the city — bursting from a countertop of a bridal boutique or commanding attention in the lobby of the Kelly Wearstler-designed Proper Hotel in Santa Monica. “It’s nice to build community with the different stores and spaces in L.A.,” she says. “People are not used to necessarily seeing things quite so seasonally. I think it brings a lot of joy to people and a lot of life to spaces — we really enjoy doing that.” 

Return to part one or part two of this three-part article.

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