Febbuabt 26, 1920 



The Horists' Review 



69 



florist* whoa* eaxda svPMtf on the iwros cmrtyinm thim lioad* ar« proporod to fUl orders 

 '"-*-- from otber florist* for local deUTcnr on tlie xunal basis. 



have arrived a"; a full understanding of 

 the actual character of the service which 

 the display window performs. 



The show window is as a stage and 

 the goods on display are the actors there- 

 in. Logicians may condemn that simile 

 on the ground that inanimate articles of 

 merchandising are not comparable with 

 the living, breathing actor. The fact re- 

 mains that the florist who adopts the 

 stage manager's point of view with re- 

 gard to the problem of window lighting 

 and dressing will find himself well on 

 the road towards getting the full sell- 

 ing value out of his windows. The good 

 stage manager conceals the mechanism 

 of his lighting; he allows only the ar- 

 tistic effects to be seen and enjoyed. He 

 does not annoy his audience with the 

 distracting and painful effects of visi- 

 ble light and unscreened lights or glare. 

 Most important, perhaps, of all, he does 

 not depend for his effects upon a flow 

 of light from any one source or direc- 

 tion; he makes use of border lights, foot 

 lights, flood lamps, bunch lights and 

 spot lights; withal, he is economical in 

 his use of light, wasting none of it in 

 borders or flies or in the auditorium. 

 He uses reflectors to place the light 

 where it will do the most good. Further- 

 more, he makes use of backgrounds, 

 stage properties and lighting all to one 

 end, to bring out the work and personal- 

 ity of the actors. And the florist who 

 works with the same intelligent effort 

 to bring out through good lighting the 

 attractive features of the goods on dis- 

 play may depend upon it that his win- 

 dows will contribute their share to- 

 wards the success of his selling effort. 



Effect on Merchandise. 



Profiting further by observing the 

 methods of the stage, the shrewd florist 

 will not permit the use of mirrors in 

 his windows in any position where their 

 reflection of light will annoy the ob- 

 server. He will study the background 

 of his window most carefully also, aim- 

 ing to make use of colors that will en- 

 hance the appearance of the merchan- 

 dise. Backgrounds of dingy grays or 

 dark colors appear dull, no matter how 

 much light is thrown upon them. Light, 

 vibrant colors help bring out the desir- 

 able colors of the display. 



The light of 5,000 candles hardly is 

 sufficient to enable one to thread a 

 needle that is held against a steel gray 

 background, but one-half of one candle 

 power is sufficient to enable one to do 

 the job easily when the needle is held 

 against a white background. So let it 

 be recognized at the outset that while 

 the effect of light on merchandise is 

 itself positive and direct, the visibility 

 of the merchandise is subject to control 

 and modification by the character and 

 color of the background. Because an 

 object is discernible only insofar as its 

 color is distinguishable from that of the 

 background, light and color must be de- 

 pended upon to emphasize such con- 

 trasts. 



Emphasizing Colors. 



Without color the window dresser's 

 art would contribute little or nothing to 

 the making of sales; it is, in truth, his 

 most effective tool. Nevertheless, recog- 

 nition of the possibilities of electric 



Flowers 

 -or- 



Plants 



^ 



>^m 



illMlki.; 



Whi 



ic 



Flowers or plants, which shall we florists push 

 the most? 



Jimmy, the Hibernica Hybrida, with his ear 

 to the cash register, says: *'Push flowers, 

 there is more money in them. Plants last 

 too long." 



Tom, the Scotchman, says: "Sell folks what 

 they want; then they will want more of the 

 things you sell, whatever you have to sell." 



Suko, the Jap, says: "In Japan, flower shops 

 sometimes much show make plants in pot. 

 Sometimes all flowers, in vases tilled. Then 

 sometimes, again, flowers in vase, plants in 

 pot, same like outdoor garden look to be. 



"Some day one sell most. Some day other. 

 Most days sell most of both. ' ' 



Which, after all, you see, is only another way 

 of saying what Tom said. 



What do you say? 



New York's 

 Favorite Flower Shop 



Fifth Avenue at 58th Street 



lighting in the rendition of color is in 

 no sense general, not even today. All 

 too many merchants are prone to regard 

 the window lighting equipment as some- 

 thing too sacred to be changed under 

 any circumstances — like the firm name. 

 Flowers of all kinds and colors are dis- 

 played in such windows under identi- 

 cally the same lights, regardless of the 

 effect produced. 



In the light of the regular Mazda 

 lamp all the colors of the spectrum oc- 

 cur, but the red and yellow rays pre- 

 dominate somewhat over the proportion 

 of those rays occurring in normal day- 

 light. For that reason when a display 

 is shown under these lamps, the reda, 

 browns and yellows are emphasized, ap- 

 pearing correspondingly stronger than 

 when seen in daylight. The blues and 



