Chicago Creatives: How Heidi Joynt and Kelly Ventura Are Redefining Florals in Fashion

Heidi Joynt, founder of Field & Florist, transitioned from environmental education to pioneering sustainable floristry in Chicago. In 2012, she launched the city’s first seasonal flower share program, inspired by Community Supported Agriculture. Over 12 years, Field & Florist has earned acclaim for its garden-inspired designs, featured in The New York Times and Martha Stewart’s Best Wedding Florists list. The business now encompasses two retail locations and a farm, emphasizing sustainability by growing their own flowers and composting over 10 tons of floral material annually.

Get to know Heidi.

The Tie Bar: How long have you been doing floristry?

HJ: You know, it’s been 12 years since we opened. The business took on many iterations at that time. We were always starting out from the standpoint of being growers and having access to our own materials, and then it transitioned and evolved slowly into being studio florists and doing weddings and events.We opened our first shop in 2017 in Wicker Park, and after that, moved farms, kind of grew and expanded our farming operation and then opened our downtown location in the Monadnock Building in 2020.

TTB: Are all of your flowers ones you guys grow yourselves?

HJ: Not all of them. It would be hard to fulfill all the orders that we have with exclusively stuff that we grow, because our growing season is a little bit limited by a long winter, so we do have to source from other farms around the country — California, Florida, Texas — but during the growing season, we try to supply with as much as we can with our own flowers.

TTB: What is it like being a Chicago-based company? How important is that identity to you?

HJ: I think being a Chicago-based business, it’s more, for me, about having a connection to the farm being the way for me to survive and thrive as a Chicago-based business. I think it would be hard for me to be happy, and to, not have that time be split with being in the earth, but also being with people, because a lot of this work is so customer service-oriented. It is really fulfilling to then go back to the source and kind of work with growing the stuff and the materials and then to be able to share them with people.

Chicago provides a great and diverse market for the flowers. There’s always lots of events happening here, a lot of really interesting customers and being a big city, I think it offers a great kind of window and platform into people just wanting to be here anyway, and so it made sense to be able to, offer niche fragrance offer flowers that we grow, because I think there’s enough people here to appreciate those things.

TTB: When did you first work with The Tie Bar?

HJ: We made an order for Tie Bar last year based on a new tie they released, just kind of ran with the color palette and tried to use that as inspiration. I recall that being in spring, and we used a lot of locally-grown ranunculus that were really lush, and kind of just playing off the very beautiful subtle colors that were in the ties and having fun with that. It’s always nice to have someone come with an inspiration and allow you to build off of that.

Visit Field and Florist

Much like Field and Florist, The Eden Collection by Kelly Ventura celebrates art and nature. This collection of neckties and pocket squares brings the beauty of lush florals to your wardrobe, featuring Kelly Ventura’s signature artistic flair.
The Eden Collection showcases soft, earthy tones and delicate floral patterns. Available in sophisticated hues such as blush pink, dark olive, and navy, these accessories are handmade from 100% silk.

Whether paired with a tailored suit for a special occasion or used to add a touch of refinement to everyday wear, these accessories bring fresh air to your fall wardrobe.