About
The Studio:
Orchid & Pine is a botanical design studio nestled in the Santa Cruz mountains, proudly led by nature loving gals devoted to exploring the intersection between nature, design and wellbeing.
Flowers are like nature's pause button, urging us to slow down and soak up the magic of now. We cherish how they encourage us to be present in the moment and is the heartbeat resonating through all we create.
We thrive on growing our blooms on the land surrounding the studio - a perfect excuse to co-create with our unique eco-system and embrace the great outdoors daily.
May our botanical love notes brighten up your space just as they do in our own home and studio. They're nature’s medicine, and we hope they sprinkle a little joy in your world too!
The Artist:
Hi, I'm Charina.
Thank you for taking time to visit my shop and reading a little bit about me.
I’m the creative behind Orchid & Pine, a botanical design studio nestled in the Santa Cruz mountains.
I’m a multi-passionate individual with a background in Fashion Design & Yoga. I pursued Fashion Design at the California College of the Arts. While studying design, I began selling my creations to local San Francisco shops. My signature product was a collection of faux fur scarves with a hidden pocket for essentials like cash, keys, and ID – a stylish accessory for a night out in the foggy city. It kept you warm and looking fly all without the need of a cumbersome handbag. After the initial success, I launched my women’s wear label, Blithe Design, post-graduation.
Along the way in my fashion journey, I fell in love with the practice of yoga. The feeling of peace and wellbeing that I experienced on the mat was always such a reprieve on the most challenging days as a mom-preneur. In 2008, I shifted focus to deepen my yoga practice and explore the world. In 2011 I earned my 200 YTT teaching certificate from Avalon Yoga and continued to pursue further studies at the Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Mysore, India while teaching.
These experiences paved the way for the evolution and core principles of Orchid & Pine Studio. It is a creative sanctuary for me and my team to bridge the exploration between design, nature and wellbeing.
The journey of Orchid & Pine commenced with our first creation – the Earth Vessel, inspired by a kindhearted gesture in 2022. At that time, I was in search for flowers for a peace ceremony gathering. Upon hearing about my search for flowers in the middle of winter, a generous soul gifted me a bouquet of flowers as an offering.
At the time, my heart had been feeling heavy. Internal and external world conflicts were taking a toll on my soul. While I sat in my car on my way to the peace ceremony, I gazed upon these flowers and felt a huge release of tension from my body. Like a boulder was being lifted from my heart. I could breathe fully again. While have always loved flowers, it was in this moment that I realized how much of a healing presence they have always been in my life.
After the peace ceremony, I gathered some of the flowers from the altar and dried them. I placed those flowers into a mini vessel with rose quartz - the ultimate gem for love - and left a note for the woman who gifted me the bouquet. Since then, we have made more connections and developed a slow and quiet friendship.
Flowers possess a language of their own hearts; if we pause to listen, we can feel our connection to their melody. They serve as a reminder that we are fundamentally intertwined with Nature, not separate from it.
My mission is to infuse daily life with the magic of botanicals responsibly which include growing and harvesting most of our herbs, plants, and flowers directly from our garden. What we are unable to grow ourselves, we source from local agriculture, supporting and giving back to our community of growers.
From sight, touch, smell and taste (coming soon) - our botanical products are created in the same spirit as the beautiful stranger who opened my heart. May they bring a smile to your face, lift your spirit and reassure you that you are where you belong.
With love,
Charina
The Flowers:
Flowers have a special language that touches the heart directly, bringing lightness to the spirit and joy to the face. Have you ever found yourself unable to resist a smile when beholding their beauty?
Our inaugural product - the earth vessel - blends the beauty and grace of flowers with the radiant energy of crystals. They make perfect gifts for those who value love, healing, and well-being.
Our journey into small-scale flower growing began in 2022 with 120 dwarf strawflowers grown from seed.
In 2023, we ventured into a variety of other crops including statice, ammobium, emerald beads cress and gomphrena. This year was particularly challenging for a variety of reasons - which you can read about more in detail here.
While we were originally able to create most of our vessels in 2022 from flowers in our garden, we’ve exceeded our capacity to grow them on the land surrounding our studio. To meet our current production we’ve carefully selected to source from local farms in Santa Cruz County which allows us to support local agriculture.
Looking ahead to 2024-2025, our focus will be on slowing down to care for the land, considering the protection of the unique landscape and diverse ecosystem that nurture our garden. Our primary goals this year include preventing soil erosion, ensuring proper drainage, enhancing soil health and fertility, and mastering crop growth to adapt naturally to our environment.
After harvesting our flowers, we employ natural drying methods, avoiding the use of chemicals or preservatives. The same standards apply to any dried flowers sourced externally. For more insights into our garden journey, visit our Instagram page where we regularly update our progress.