Aerin Lauder’s Love Affair with Flowers

Aerin Lauder was born into a life quite literally immersed in beauty, especially the beauty of flowers. The granddaughter of the cosmetics mogul Estée Lauder, current style and image director of the Estée Lauder Companies, and head of Aerin, her eponymous cosmetic, home, and fashion line, Lauder channeled that long-held adoration of blooms into her latest book, Living with Flowers, out today from Rizzoli. “My love of flowers has always felt deeply personal, as it was passed down to me from my mother and my grandmother, Estée,” she says. “From mini potted geranium favors at my childhood birthday parties to a bouquet waiting for me when I arrive home from a business trip, my mother nurtured a lifelong love of nature and all things beautiful.”

The book covers Lauder’s appreciation and use of flowers in her homes, including her New York residences and her house in Panama. In her sunny vacation home in Palm Beach, the warm climate nurtures all manner of magical living things. “I like to incorporate flowers and plants that are local,” she says. “In Palm Beach the flowers tend to be more tropical and our home is filled with orchids and palms that create a lush, colorful, and welcoming sensibility.” 

But even in less verdant environments, flowers can still be a part of everyday design. Lauder celebrates the idea of living with “forever flowers,” whether that means putting to use the staggeringly vast floral Herend tea service gifted to her by her mother or enveloping an entire Palm Beach bedroom in a single floral print by Bennison called Chinese Paper. “I wanted to introduce readers to the many ways to live with flowers that are surprising and unexpected,” she says. “Flowers do not always have to mean a fresh bouquet. They can create a beautiful pattern for wallpaper in the dining room, hand-painted details on a special set of tableware, or a note in your favorite fragrance. The book is organized to convey these endless ideas and how they transcend seasons, holidays, meaningful moments, and the every day.”

Lauder also champions many of her favorite artisans in the book, such as paper flower sculptor Livia Cetti, ceramicist Frances Palmer, and the North Carolina tole artist Tommy Mitchell, whose gilded, metal flowers Lauder discovered years ago on a trip to Texas. “There is something so special about a flower that can last forever, and Tommy Mitchell’s work is exactly that,” she says. “His creations are so beautiful and lifelike, and I can never have too many.” 

Naturally, garden inspiration finds a home in Lauder’s work, too, from the recent launch of her Tuberose Gardenia scent to the upcoming debut of her first collection with D. Porthault of cosmetic bags, sleepwear, and linens inspired by, you guessed it, the beauty of blooms.

Garden & Gun has an affiliate partnership with bookshop.org and may receive a portion of sales when a reader clicks to buy a book.