Craig

is originally from Louisiana with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northeast Louisiana University. One summer semester, he resided in Rome, Italy for 6 weeks studying art and architecture. His first love was theatre arts where he became involved with the theatre department at NLU, acting, chorus singing in musicals, but he was mainly more interested in working backstage and behind the scenes. “I would rather be building and painting sets, hanging lights, and working with props and scenery,” says Craig, “my talent was definitely not onstage.” After graduating, he was offered a summer stock theatre contract working in a set design studio located at Gateway Playhouse on Long Island, New York. “It was a fantastic summer of musicals, a lot of hard work, day and night. I literally lived in the rafters of a barn next to the theatre for three months, working on set designs. Show business was not cracking up to be all that glamorous living in a barn for the summer. We would build and rehearse one show during the day, and perform a different show at night. This continued with a total of five productions throughout the summer with eight performances a week.” At the end of summer, he moved into Manhattan to continue his theatre career. Highlights were working for Riverside Shakespeare Company for a year, then Symphony Space Theatre, an entirely Gilbert & Sullivan company as an assistant stage manager. Craig lived and worked in New York City for 5 years until relocating to Austin in 1986.

Photosynthesis was honored with the floral decorating of Lady Bird Johnson's birthday cake at the LBJ Library in December 2000 and 2002.

“I was ready for a change and an easier place to live, New York was a hard lifestyle and I wanted to be back south where I belonged.” His first job was at the downtown Austin Omni Hotel as a Banquet Captain, where he was first introduced to the wedding industry and floral design. “I began to see lots of weddings and receptions at the hotel, this is where I got my interest in floral design. I loved seeing the flowers, but was particularly fascinated in how it was made, looking inside the arrangements to see how it was put together. The mechanics of arrangements and displays intrigued me and I finally thought, floral design is going to replace my short lived theatre career. I began by designing flowers for restaurant and club accounts, the Omni Hotel asked me to design a weekly arrangement for the lobby and front desk. Soon, I began developing contacts in the wedding industry, attending design shows, learning all that I could and developing my own flair and style with weddings. One designed wedding led to another, then another, until I had to terminate my hotel job and become a full time floral designer.”

Craig has become an award winning floral designer since moving to Austin, turning his knowledge of theatre production into floral design artistry. He located his business in his home and has never left. “People tell me I should open a shop, but working from home gives all my clients that very personal attention, I would lose that intimacy with a busy store front. Brides send me invitations to their weddings, it’s just how comfortable they feel with me, inviting me as a guest at their wedding. But I usually decline… it’s a working day for me, working behind the scenes where I’m happiest, designing beautiful arrangements that magically appear on her wedding day. I have saved every thank you note from my brides, my portfolio has over 500 thanks you notes and cards from brides. Being home-based is part of what sets me apart from others. I have passion for flowers and my work, it’s a living form of artistry.” Craig loves the drama and theatrics he can achieve with flowers. “The theatrical drama I can achieve at a wedding working with the variety of colors and textures available in flowers excites me. I want to hear ‘Wow, that’s beautiful!’, when a bride sees her bouquets, a beautiful church setting, or enters her reception with a buffet centerpiece towering in the room. Every wedding is a production, I’ve had couples stop me out and about in restaurants, stores, even on an airplane once, ‘you designed our wedding 5 years ago,’... or longer, ‘and the flowers were awesome!’ This is just how flowers affect people’s lives and memories... I am a big part of their wedding day”