Flowers that delight and surprise: Bellevue Floral Co. offers “bespoke floral artistry” – Napa Valley Register

Romantic, eclectic arrangements for couples, businesses and events in Napa Valley are now available from Bellevue Floral Co., a Napa and Daly City-based floral design and event studio.

From wedding bouquets featuring pink garden roses to colorful centerpieces dotted with yellow zinnias, owner Christina Yan is finding a way to showcase Sonoma and Napa County fruits, flowers and greenery.

“I love creating installations, decorating homes and spaces for weddings, and arranging bouquets,” said Yan. She moved to the Browns Valley neighborhood in Napa in January.

Yan said she looks forward to designing all kinds of arrangements for individuals and businesses this fall, especially for the winter holidays. Her specialties include “bespoke floral artistry” such as hanging garlands of small roses and wall art that incorporates dried flowers.

“I am ecstatic about the warmth and welcome I have received in Napa. One thing I plan to do going forward is introduce more California-grown flowers and native grasses into my arrangements,” said Yan.

Shauna VanderKlugt, a Napa resident who hired Yan for her December 2020 wedding, said the “results were incredible, like a winter wonderland.”

VanderKlugt added Yan was easygoing, professional and helpful.

“On my wedding day, Christina went from dropping off the bouquets to the girls, the boutonnieres to the groom’s house and then straight to decorating the reception venue. The locations were a bit far from one another, but she was always on time. Not only was she nice, but there was not one minute where I worried anything was going to go wrong,” said VanderKlugt.

Yan is currently making floral arrangements for family gatherings, special moments, and “micro weddings” for couples holding scaled-back events. In addition, she is designing floral displays for businesses welcoming back customers and employees.

Daniel Singer, a neighbor and friend of Yan, said his girlfriend loved the bouquets “with cool color schemes that Christina created.”

“Christina works with nontraditional colors like maroon and light orange. She can put together amazing designs quite quickly. My girlfriend also enjoyed the dried floral arrangement she made. It’s been on her desk for the past few months,” said Singer.

Yan said her pandemic-related changes include contactless drop-off delivery for almost all arrangements. She also limits how much contact she makes with flowers and greenery at flower marts.

Yan has always sourced from the San Francisco Flower Mart, buying from family-owned businesses such as Torchio Nursery and Neve Farms. She now also works with a number of North Bay businesses, including Tomgirl Farms in Coombsville. Tomgirl Farms grows over 100 different kinds of flowers including heirloom roses, dahlias, California natives, and unusual shrubs native to South Africa and Australia.

Point West Flower Mart in Rohnert Park, which offers garden roses, phlox, celosia, and hydrangeas, delivers flowers to Yan regularly.

“She’s down to earth, humble, and born with an innate talent for combining color with texture. Her work is living art,” said Christina Zegrean, a partner at Point West Flower Mart.

Mary T Beller, the owner of Tomgirl Farms, said Yan’s style is whimsical and playful.

“I enjoy working with Christina because she shares our vision of promoting locally grown flowers, fruits, and vegetables. I’ve seen her experiment a lot, adding in texture with asparagus foliage and berries, or including ninebark, a California native shrub whose foliage turns a stunning ruby color in the fall,” said Beller.

Yan’s business partner is one of her biggest supporters, her mother, Mei Yan. Christina Yan’s second base for the business is a home design studio in her mother and father’s Daly City garage. Bellevue Floral Co. is named for the street on which Christina Yan grew up.

“In 2016, I left my position as a catering and brand director at Chartwells in Berkeley. Before that, I had created floral arrangements for a few weddings from my 400-square foot apartment in Burlingame. When I founded the business, my mom and dad were both so excited to support my journey. My parents offered their garage space so I could scale my business. My mom, who is a natural creative, quickly became my production assistant for events,” said Christina Yan.

Mei Yan said Christina was good at art at a young age.

“When she was younger, she was always taking photographs and drawing flowers outside. She is self-taught (when it comes to flower arrangement),” said Mei Yan.

Yan completed her formal education by double majoring in art and communications at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She also completed an entrepreneurship program in technology management. This prepared her to establish a business.

“Now Christina has really taken her skills to a different level. Her style is very free and nature-oriented. She’s also become more skilled at dealing with difficult situations, like tightly securing centerpieces when it’s windy outside,” said Mei Yan.

Christina Yan has formed solid partnerships with wedding photographers willing to travel to Napa, such as Shannon Yen and Radostina Boseva. Each has their own studio in San Francisco.

“Christina is talented and passionate and prefers to use organic and sustainable materials. She has respect and appreciation for both the flowers and people she works with,” said Boseva.

Yen said she has worked with Christina Yan for two years, collaborating on weddings, sales shoots, and fun creative shoots.

“Her work is innovative and fresh, without feeling overwhelming. The arrangements and installations are captivating and dreamy,” said Yen.

In fall 2019, Yan started Camino Goods, a home decor business. Camino Goods is based out of her Napa home. The name comes from El Camino Real, the Burlingame street on which Yan lived before coming to Napa.

Camino Goods is an online retail store offering products Yan has selected. The categories of items include kitchen, botanical, home decor, bath, accessories, vintage, and jewelry. Camino Goods offers everything from ceramic vases to coconut shell candles.

Yan uses Instagram to showcase both her stores’ offerings.

“A lot of people find me through social media and are drawn to my floral design and snippets of home life. I’m very open about my creative projects outside of floristry. I’ve also met a lot of people in the community while walking my dog Tuli. That’s short for Tulip. She’s a husky mix,” said Yan.

Yan said in the coming months, she is thinking of buying a small school bus to hold mobile flower pop-up events.

“I’m eager to learn more about the history of Napa Valley and vintner culture. I would like to partner with local wineries when that might be appropriate. I understand knowing Napa Valley’s roots is important to growing my business,” said Yan.

Yan said her advice for entrepreneurs starting a new business is to be flexible with new circumstances as they come.

“In addition, set aside time to design for yourself, if you are a florist. Identifying your unique aesthetic is so important to being an artist. It also lets you take a step back and reflect on why you enjoy the process,” said Yan.

Learn more about Bellevue Floral Co. at bellevuefloralco.com. Learn more about Camino Goods at caminogoods.com.

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