Ryan Norville Is Taking Paris One Floral Arrangement at a Time

By Bianca Nieves, senior shopping editor for The Cut who researches and identifies the best fashion, beauty, and lifestyle products to add to cart. Her work has also appeared in Teen Vogue, Refinery29, Glamour, Fashionista, and others.

Photo: Courtesy of Ryan Norville

In 2023, Ryan Norville uprooted her and her family’s life and moved to Paris, France. With her, she took her talent: arranging flowers. Norville had been perfecting her craft during the pandemic and she started posting the results. Her colleagues, and fans who started following her, started to champion her work. She opened a florist studio, formerly known as Oat Cinnamon, and it rapidly grew. Since then, she has worked with brands like Glossier, Lululemon, Veuve Clicquot, Warby Parker, and more.

“Here, flowers are a little bit more of a general lifestyle thing,” says Norville. “As opposed to New York, and probably most places in America, where they’re very much more special. Here, people really buy flowers every day. It really is with people’s lifestyles. So that’s really cool, too. And I am still learning a lot about working with the French.”

We caught up with her to learn all about how this career came to be and how she’s navigating Parisian culture.

What made you pivot toward flowers? I was a web designer at a big company. I hated my job, but it was the type of job that when it was done, it was done. After two years, I got fired abruptly. But now, it’s very interesting because my job’s everywhere with me all the time. I never wanted to have a business for that reason. Now my job is 24/7, especially having it in New York and Paris. I can’t really log off until 11 p.m.-ish, to be real.

Why flowers? I had this love of flowers and taking care of things in the house, but I was like, “Everyone likes flowers. I’m not the only one.”

It was really my husband who kind of suggested me toward it. I spent weeks at home just not applying to any jobs or anything, and he was like, “You have to do something.” But I had no real connections to go make a career change.

So how did you get your first job? We have a mutual friend who owns a flower shop, Élan Flowers in Tribeca. My husband and I were at a party, and he went up to the husband who owned the shop and asked, “Why aren’t you working with my wife? She’s such an amazing florist” — unbeknownst to me because I had shut this venture down completely. Then my husband came back to me and told me, “Hey, he’s going to hire you.” And that’s how I started. After that, I went to intern for another florist who was doing a lot of editorial work and celebrity weddings. I was not making any money. I was in my mid-20s and I was starting over. But after an event, they had a lot of leftover materials. So as a payment, I could take any of the leftover materials and I would practice my craft at home. I had a second Instagram page where I would share my creations, and eventually, a colleague of mine when I was at La Mer found it and asked, “Oh, do you take orders?” I didn’t, but I was like, “Yes.” And that’s how I got started, and it just kind of really grew from there.

Photo: Courtesy of Ryan Norville

**You recently changed your business name to Ciel et Sora, but it began as Oat Cinnamon. Tell us the story behind both. ** My Instagram handle is @cinnamonryan, and when I first made the hobby page, it was @cinnamonflorals. This was before I even had a client. It was just a way that if people knew me more from my personal page, they could kind of get the link between the two. Then, I signed up for a Squarespace. I didn’t actually do anything with it. And one day, someone messaged me saying, “Hey, I bought your domain because it expired. If you want it back, you can pay for it.” So then I was like, “Oh, man, now I need to change the name,” and that’s where Oat Cinnamon came from.

**Tell us about your company’s name, **Ciel et Sora. It’s my kids’ names. I wanted something that was a bit easier for our French markets. And I felt it was time. I grew, I’ve learned a lot in the six or so years of Oat Cinnamon, and I was feeling a different way and I wanted to also work on something that had a little bit more meaning to me. I think it really encapsulates just kind of the new journey that I’m on.

How different is it working in Paris compared to the U.S.? It’s very different. It’s a very different customer. It’s very different atmosphere. First and foremost, with my studio in New York, we work almost exclusively with corporations. We’re doing private dinners, media stuff, galas, not weddings, fashion shows, installation work, and things like that. Plus, a lot of times, people are just finding me on social through buzz and things like that. In France, it’s not like that. It’s very word of mouth. It’s very loyal to who you’ve been working with the last 50 years. And so it’s a bit different. And so I have some clients here, but a lot have been American brands trying to break through in the French market.

**Who are your muses? Favorite directors, photographers, other florists, etc. ** When I think of a muse, I think of an outlet that really goes beyond inspiring you but evokes a feeling of why you create. For me, no matter how cliché it sounds, that would be my two kids. Every day, they teach me how to live life; they give me hope by seeing the world brand-new through their eyes. Their confidence, their joy, how they freely love motivates me every day to really think a bit more inwardly about what really matters to me and the life I want to live.

If I think about other artists and creatives who inspire me in many ways, I always think of people who just excel in multiple mediums and arenas of art. I am truly obsessed with Willem Dafoe. I feel like he takes his acting career and roles so seriously and artfully, but life not as much. And then there is his style; he looks amazing in everything.

What are three words that describe your work? Imaginative, textual, but also intentional.

Do those words also define your personal style? I do think “imaginative” is definitely there. I really want to have fun with it. I don’t know, maybe it’s after I had kids, but sometimes I just feel very aware of my mortality, and I just don’t think less is more. I just want to do as much as possible with life and self-experience everything, but make it look good. So I think definitely still imaginative and outgoing and curated, too.

**Has your sense of style changed since you moved countries? ** I pretty much started my wardrobe from scratch again, and so I have to think about it a lot when I’m buying stuff. I think the imaginative me in New York felt like an evolved art student, but now I like to look more like an art gallerist. So more like that older person with refined taste but who still has some eclecticism there.

**What are your go-to shoes to be on your feet while working? ** New Balances. Last year, my son and daughter were going to the different schools. One was in Montmartre, and the other was down the hill. Lots of cobblestones in between. I’ve had almost every sneaker, but those were the most comfortable.

Favorite florist holiday. The first Monday of May.

Least favorite florist holiday. Valentine’s Day.

How This Florist Is Taking Paris One Arrangement at a Time