PHOTOS COURTESY FOX AND THE FLEUR

A floral design business is sprouting in Aspinwall.

Fox and the Fleur, a floral design company known for its blooming pop-up installations that have adorned lamp posts and even trash cans around the Pittsburgh area, will be located on Brilliant Avenue. Anne Dickson, founder and designer at Fox and the Fleur, says she is looking forward to having the business located close to her home in Fox Chapel. Her hope is to have the storefront open by September.

“There’s a lot of really wonderful female entrepreneurs and business owners that have settled in Aspinwall and opened businesses, many of which are creative or service-oriented businesses,” Dickson says. “It just felt like a really nice fit for Fox and the Fleur.”

Dickson launched Fox and the Fleur from her home in 2016 after years spent creating floral arrangements for family and friends. She says her experience working in New York City for Tommy Hilfiger and Dolce Gabbana, coupled with her upbringing as a gardener’s daughter, led to her love for making floral arrangements.

“I started in my garage with basically a pair of clippers and a sink, and it’s really turned into something much more than I ever imagined that it would,” she says. “I think it just starts with a few people taking a chance and trusting me to do bigger projects.”

Dickson and her team now organize custom floral arrangements for private events, including weddings, parties, holidays and outdoor affairs. In early 2021, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, she decided to brighten up unexpected corners around the city as a way to bring joy into people’s lives. 

Her first pop-up display was garlands of flowers wrapped around the columns of Shadyside’s Family House, a project she dedicated to health care workers, patients and their families. She later outfitted a trash can in Lawrenceville with an elaborate bouquet, brightened up a lamp post in Aspinwall and even added wreaths to the Noble Quartet bronze statues located outside the entrance to the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History in Oakland.

Dickson says she bases the creative process for her signature decadent designs off of monochromatic flower colors, as well as what’s in season. 

“When I’m thinking about arranging, I’ll usually start with color and then build out from there,” she says. “I really learned to find the beauty in sort of the more seemingly mundane flowers like carnations or lilies 一 they’re all so beautiful and it’s just about imagining that you could do a lot with them.”

Once Fox and the Fleur opens, customers will be able to order custom-made floral arrangements as well as purchase in-season arrangements on site. Dickson says the team at Fox and the Fleur will spend each day filling the store with fresh arrangements.

“We’re planning to have a really interesting and robust variety of fresh-cut flowers that are just in buckets and water, waiting to be picked out,” she says. “So for instance, you could come in and choose a bouquet of flowers by the stem and we can wrap it for you in some beautiful tissue and ribbon and you can be on your way.”