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Prudence Designs may appear to be a generic, quaint Chelsea flower shop from a casual, streetside perusal, but behind its plate glass window and around the galvanized zinc buckets filled with seasonal stems and branches lurks the brain trust of Arturo Quintero and Grayson Handy. Prudence, their production and design company, is best known for high-style beauty, entertainment, fashion, and media events, and the kind of fantasy theme weddings that send planning brides right to their PDAs. The duo’s floral arrangements blend the classic and the elegant-quirky in offbeat containers like pitchers, boxes, buckets, and tins. Their signature Chinese carry-out box, overflowing with ranunculus and roses and complete with chopsticks, may be the perfect gift for an officemate’s birthday. Other favored components include green cabbage roses, orchids, calla lilies, and fiddlehead ferns. There’s a bit of the English and French country garden in Prudence’s look, tempered by a contemporary, geometric twist and a lush, soothing sense of color. In addition to its floral confections, the shop also sells furniture, embroidered pillows, linen napkins, placemats, and other accoutrements for the gracious life. — Jack Robertiello

Handy and Quintero generally cater to a younger crowd and to fashionistas like Cynthia Rowley who are looking for something a little funky—though Prudence Designs has also done its share of grand, over-the-top weddings. The pair also does full wedding planning.

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