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  WINDY CITY TIMES

Gay in the Life: Florist Mike Hines
by Andrew Davis, Windy City Times
2011-12-14

This article shared 9642 times since Wed Dec 14, 2011
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Mike Hines is the owner and creative director of epoch. ( www.epochfloral.com ) , a decade-old company that specializes in floral decorations that are "high-end and designer-based," he said.

As for the name, he said, "It literally came to me in a thesaurus. I put in the word "event," and this came up. It ended with a period and was in small letters. It loved [ it all ] ."

His days can be hectic, to say the least: "I like to get up around four or five in the morning. I go buy flowers fresh from the market. My designers and I come here [ to epoch. ] . We get all the flowers out by 10 o'clock and we're on to the next day."

"It's a fast process, which we love. Also, we don't duplicate anything but we do have a brand style." When asked to define his brand style, Hines responded, "It's simple and impactful at the same time. It's modern, yet approachable. It's definitely not contemporary; I believe there's a difference [ between modern and contemporary ] . 'Modern,' to me, is clean and fresh; 'contemporary' is not such a clean line and, if it is, it's too stark and too cold."

Hines also said, "We don't use more than three elements in any of our designs. I don't use a lot of filler, because what you buy are the flowers."

He has some help running the business: "Mikel runs the financial end and I just hired Mike, as my assistant/project director." When the similarities of their names was brought up, Hines said, "There were three Mikes when we started. ... Now, it's brilliant that I have an assistant named Mike because they think they've gotten a hold of me."

Hines talked about one of the crazier requests he's gotten: building a floral elephant for former Gov. George Ryan when he was in office: "It wasn't the size of an elephant. It was more the size of a dog." When asked if doing the job for a Republican politician interfered with his political sensibilities, Hines said, "Not at all—my political sensibilities are all over the place. I'm socially liberal but I'm fiscally conservative."

However, Hines is also a mogul in the making. In the spring, he's launching Mike Hines Signature, which he has described as "a lifestyle brand of selling me. However, my medium and message revolves around flowers. Mike Hines Signature is more a luxury brand of me." He plans to do everything from consulting to delivering lectures, as well as developing lines of items that could include candles and vases.

"My philosophy is to always show people the possibilities, and then work towards those possibilities," Hines said.

Watch out, Martha Stewart.

Photos by Mike Hines and Andrew Davis

THE STATS

Name

Mike Hines

Age

43

Hometown

Hibbing, Minn. ( "It's the home of Bob Dylan." )

Job title

Owner of epoch

Hobbies

Enjoys Bikram yoga

Favorite gadget

KitchenAid mixer ( "Cooking is really therapy for me." )

Favorite flower

The chocolate cosmo ( "It's very delicate and about the size of a 50-cent piece. It only lives a day; I love that fleeting moment." )

Favorite snack food

Nacho cheese Doritos

Relationship deal-breaker

"Lying—to me and yourself"


This article shared 9642 times since Wed Dec 14, 2011
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