154 InSTYLE AUGUST 2019
THE LIFE
’ve always wanted a screen like this,”
says Whitney Bromberg Hawkings,
pointing to an 18th-century
coromandel screen she found at a
flea market in Paris. The founder
of Flowerbx—a London-based
online flower-delivery service that
launched in New York in May—first
noticed a similar piece in a photo of
Coco Chanel’s home. “She was such a pioneer, role
model, and glamorous figure for me. Seeing those
pictures of her in front of that screen really made
me want one.” (It is said that the late designer
owned 32 large lacquered folding screens depict-
ing mythical Chinese and East Indian scenes.) So
when Bromberg Hawkings and her husband, Peter
Hawkings, the SVP of menswear for Tom Ford
(where Bromberg Hawkings previously worked),
came across one from another collector,
they wasted no time bringing it home to
London. “We said, ‘We need to buy this
right now.’ ” The screen has shaped the
rest of their living room, providing the
perfect backdrop for Bromberg Hawk-
ings’s single-variety flower bouquets.
“With the one statement piece in the room,
the rest can be quite neutral. Flowers are
the same. They bring a room to life.”
I
“My style is classic
and somewhat
traditional. I like
quality. I would
rather have fewer
but beautiful things.”
The couple’s
whippet, Ursula
