Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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118 | MAY + JUNE 2015 nshoremag.com The florists did most of the arrang- ing right in their hands, working by sight and feeling. Sigman's favorite shop was called Les Fleurs. Sigman learned flower arrang- ing at her mother's knee, helping in her mother's Worcester flower shop from the time she was a little girl. She watched her mother push the envelope of traditional floral arranging, doing things like cutting mint and other herbs from her own garden and adding them to centerpieces. "She would use flowers in in- teresting ways," Sigman says. "She was always trying new things." But when Sigman's mother's breast cancer came out of remis- sion, she decided it was time to close her beloved flower shop. Sig- man came home to help her family, and also to start her own flower shop, Les Fleurs, which opened in Andover in January 1989. But Sigman's mother died in February. She never got to see Les Fleurs. Sigman didn't know anyone in Andover. But with her father's help, she launched her new busi- ness. She'd create the bouquets, and her father would deliver them for her. "I was 22," Sigman says. "I said, 'I've got nothing to lose.'" More than 25 years later, Les Fleurs is one of the North Shore's most celebrated flower shops, ap- pearing regularly on lists like Best of Boston and The Knot's Best of Weddings. In November 2014, the shop completed an expansion of its Barnard Street location, doubling in size to about 2,400 square feet and adding an event planning consulta- tion room, a larger walk-in cooler, and a more spacious showroom. Les Fleurs is a successful busi- ness, but it's also a kind of floral love letter to Sigman's mother, in-depth SHOP Sandra Sigman has been in business for 26 years. one that takes inspiration from backyard gardens, lovely heirloom décor, and those beautiful Parisian flower shops. Just as chefs are in- creasingly embracing farm-to-table eating, Sigman favors farm-to-table floral design. "The style we gravitate toward is a lot [like] the garden—loose and airy," Sigman says. She loves incorporating elements like fuzzy, muted-green lamb's ear foliage and French lavender from her own garden in floral arrangements. The