Burlingame’s Penflora spreads inspiration, joy through flowers, curated goods

Penflora patrons can experience the pleasure of ethically sourced flowers in a bevy of different ways — from the Friday floral-arrangement bar, private parties, bouquet sales, floral purses and even landscaping and home decor consultations. 

“I teach classes, I do private parties,” Olson said. “I love to give back to the community, so I do these sip n’ shop events, where a group will come in, plan a date — the store is closed — they have a little private party, bring their drinks and nibbles and then a percentage goes back to their organization.” 

On Fridays, Penflora hosts a flower bar, where customers start with a “bucket of blooms” to create an arrangement — and how a client goes about designing a bouquet is a true form of self-expression, often revealing one’s personality, Olson remarked. 

“You can tell so much about people and their personalities with what they walk out with. They’re always all beautiful, and they’re always different,” she said. “I just love that.” 

While the storefront location has only been open since October, Olson’s been offering up signature sustainability, high quality and authentic appreciation for nature in a wide range of creative endeavors under the Penflora brand for around five years. 

‘Pen’ in the store’s name is a reference to Olson’s stationary, greeting cards and watercolor designs, a practice she still enjoys but isn’t focusing on, while ‘flora’ is undeniably an allusion to the variety of different ways flowers are incorporated into her business. 

“My ethos is ‘from garden to vase,’ so I focus on blooms that are in season. That’s kind of where it all started ... my love of landscape, and then it transitioned into floral art,” Olson said. 

Olson still works with individuals to brighten their home spaces with plants and flowers, curating subscription services or consultations based on their capacity and goals. 

“I’ll go and I’ll bring vessels into someone’s house or teach them how to bring plants in or flowers, or kind of all the above, because they bring such life into a space,” she said. 

Patrons walking into Penflora for the first time will find a unique mix of living foliage, nature-inspired designs and artwork, and other vessels, trinkets and garments, both vintage and new — everything from crystals to candlesticks. 

The curation of these items, which are meant to be kept, preserved or passed on, she said, is another element of her passion for sustainability and intentional design. 

“I have a great appreciation for slow decorating. And that’s a little bit of my love of vintage and new but I just feel like when something’s curated, and a slow process where you find things along the way, it’s just so much more interesting,” she said. 

Penflora’s business ethos stands in contrast to a culture of constant consumerism, Olson said, which starts with her intentional curation and, she hopes, continues with thoughtful purchasing. 

“I just think especially in our fast society that we’ve experienced — with all the disposable clothing and disposable things made off shore — it might be less expensive, but it doesn’t last and it’s just ending up in our landfill,” she said. “It feeds into my whole sustainable ethos of trying to use, reuse, but also, make a purchase thoughtfully. It might be more expensive but it is going to last.” 

And while prioritizing high-quality, oftentimes locally-sourced products can be a challenge at times, it’s ultimately worth it to Olson to provide customers with a broad range of nature and home decor that offers inspiration and beauty. 

“A lot of people that come in say that it’s like nothing else in town,” she said. 

Penflora is located at 1243 Howard Ave. and open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday from 1-5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It can be reached at (650) 483-7834