Preface: From Budding Curiosity to Full-Blown Air Plant Obsession

“How did you get into air plants?”

My husband and I hear this question all the time. Why in the world would two young-ish professionals, one with an established career in marketing (me) and one with a burgeoning career in real estate (him), start a company selling Tillandsia?

Let’s start with a little personal history. Ryan was born and raised in Florida. He’s always had a passion for horticulture and an aptitude for keeping plants alive and kicking. Even from a young age, as his mother would reveal to me with great affection, he enjoyed his “dirt time.” He carried this love for flora and fauna into adulthood, and I first was able to truly appreciate this quality as he transformed the lackluster, tangled mess of weeds that surrounded our first house together into a beautiful, thoughtfully-tended tropical landscape.

I am so appreciative of his skill because, well, to say I have been cursed with a black thumb would be an understatement. I’m not quite sure why … the cards were stacked in my favor. I was raised in rural Vermont by parents who loved to garden, and were good at it. I grew up in a home filled with thriving houseplants, many of which my dad still tends to and several of which are older than me. And yet, even with great examples of agricultural prowess set by my parents, and although I have always loved and appreciated the beauty of plants, keeping them alive has never been my forte.

Fast forward to one fateful weekend trip to St Augustine, Florida. We’re there to scope out wedding venues and enjoy a little getaway. We’re strolling down St. George Street and spot a display of these curious little plants outside one of those seashell trinket stores that I normally avoid at all costs. But those plants—they are so cool! No soil needed? Hard for even me to kill them? We get a few home and we are in love. We want more. And we realize as we start digging around the internet, that there really aren’t many online retailers selling them. We should change this, we say.

Fast forward a bit more and now, what started as a small side business to share our love of air plants with others has grown into a fulltime gig that’s still growing. As our air plant business has grown, we’ve become more and more enthralled by these amazing plants—the variance in Tillandsia shape, their blooms, their resilience, and the endless ways to use them in design. One of the things that we love most about our business is the creativity of others that it has exposed us to. We have had the privilege of working with incredibly passionate Tillandsia growers, insanely talented floral designers, and creative artisans who push the boundaries of air plant art and design. It is truly inspiring, and something we do not take for granted.

It is because of this—our love for each other, for air plants, and for the community that loves them too—that we have set out to make this book a collaborative journey. We hope that you will find it to be a helpful resource for Tillandsia education, but also that it will inspire you to find your own air plant creativity. We hope that you’ll share our love for these amazing plants, and that you’ll share this love with someone special to you who may be new to the wonderful world of Tillandsia.

We think that love and air plants are two things worth sharing.

A close-up of the bloom on the brachycaulos x streptophylla hybrid shows its lush red and multiple purple flowers.

Ryan & Meriel Lesseig are co-owners of Air Plant Design Studio, a premium online retailer of Tillandsia. They live in Tampa, FL with their two dogs Haley and Molly. Their mutual love of nature and design, and Meriel’s strong background in marketing, lead them to develop their business, which they are continuing to grow both locally and nationally. They enjoy traveling, especially to the Florida Keys where they are able to combine their love of tropical plants with their love of the water.