“I consider my botanical artworks portraits,” says Jessica Hollander. “They are as individual as people: Every flower, every seed pod is unique.”
Hollander, the creative force of nature behind the New York City–based lifestyle brand India & Purry, gently traces the outline of a poppy petal on a pillow, admiring its “bewitching beauty.”
“I’m simply obsessed with poppies,” she says. “I love the way the petals are folded like crepe paper. They are otherworldly and delicate.”
For the last decade, Hollander has been creating décor—everything from bedding and wallpaper to table runners, serving trays, and framed giclée prints—that brings the artistry to the everyday home.
“I’m constantly buoyed by the beauty I see all around me in the trees, in the light, in the water,” she says. “And I want to help people create lovely, happy spaces that infuse the mundane with the divine beauty of nature.”
In her portraits, Hollander probes the petals and pods, peeling away the pretense to reveal personality.
The hellebores are haughty; the poppies are playful; the scabiosa are showy. The dainty dandelions are demure.
“There’s a quirkiness and sometimes a slight awkwardness to my work that adds edge,” she says.
Growing up in a quiet neighborhood on New York’s Long Island, Hollander was attuned to her suburban surroundings.
“I’ve always had a deep love of all plants and animals, including insects,” she says, adding that India & Purry is named after her two rescue cats, sisters she welcomed into her home around the time she started the business. “My mother, who is artistic, had an organic garden, and she taught me the Latin names of plants. This love of nature has always been my driving force.”
So has her affinity for art.
Hollander started drawing in kindergarten, and after graduating from college with a degree in painting and drawing, she began painting portraits of people, not petals.
Although she still does an occasional personal portrait, most of her work focuses on botanical images.
Hollander, a colorist who favors shades of peach and orange and who sees every plant as a sculptural and architectural form, is constantly on the search for beautiful blooms to add to her pictorial garden.
She purchased the poppies, her signature, from a florist in Williamsburg, Brooklyn; she bought the Purple Sheen Sea Hollies from a local bodega; she picked the Queen Anne’s lace by the side of the road in her Greenpoint, Brooklyn, neighborhood; and she plucked the dandelions and roses from her mother’s backyard in Huntington, New York.
Painting is a solitary, soothing pursuit for Hollander, who sets up her easel outdoors.
“I’ve painted in the woods upstate and deep in Central Park,” she says, adding that the al fresco sessions help her reconnect with her artistic roots and the healing nature of the living landscape.
Her product designs are derived from her botanical paintings—small watercolors done in a single sitting and large oil-on-canvas works that can take three to four days of concentrated work to complete.
“I curate a collection for each product,” she says, adding that each type of item is individually designed.
She points to the India & Purry Turkish marble coasters, which are available in a variety of patterns and colors. Each coaster in the set of four is a standalone work of art that, when grouped with its mates, forms a different image.
Hollander, who designed a collection of window shades for Hunter Douglas, has plans to expand the India & Purry brand with other licensed work. She recently added resort wear—slacks and caftans—to the line.
“I want to branch out,” she says. “I have a true passion for interior design, and I’d like to create a collection for a boutique hotel. And I envision other types of spaces, commercial as well as residential, fully decorated with India & Purry products.”
For more information, visit indiaandpurry.com