ML - Michigan Avenue

2014 - Issue 4 - Summer

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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photography by Jason LittLe; iLLustration by sara frankLin continued from page 102 But t hese days f ind Cronin t a k ing ca re of plent y of f lowers at Asra i Garden, where she prepares deliveries of fresh, natural f lora for both everyday and special events, like weddings and Obama fundraisers. She opened the boutique in the Coyote Building at Wicker Park's six corners at the age of 23 ("It was the '90s, and they were giving out loans to people like crazy," says Cronin, an environmental science dropout who discovered she enjoyed working with f lorists). Following a rent increase in the early aughts, she moved Asrai Garden to its current location, in a nook of North and Winchester Avenues. "People will walk by and say, 'Oh my God, we finally have a f lorist over here? When did you open?' I'm like, '1999?'" she deadpans. She has a soft spot for this neighborhood, which is where her parents first met. "It's my home," says Cronin, a resident of the South Side neighborhood Brighton Park. "I walk out the front door [of Asrai Garden] and I see 10 people I know before I've reached the corner." She considers many customers family. For example: "I have a client who sends me to his house in Mexico for vacation every year, and I have clients who, when they moved to New York for three years, f lew me out to do t heir cont a iner ga rdening on t heir ba lcony—like there's not a f lorist in New York." She chuckles while The Cure's "Lovesong" buzzes in the background. Cronin describes her boutique as "the everything-I-like- in-one-place store." An eclectic assortment of antique mirrors lines one of the slate-colored walls, ref lecting the shop's array of products, including Fresh Cut Ga rdenia ca ndles f rom L a fco, ca ndy- colored soaps, and $12 wild pheasant feathers displayed in a Mason jar. Forage Haberdashery t ies ("Ha ndmade in Ph iladelph ia" reads a sig n w r it ten in loopy cu rsive) a nd ha nd- painted linen scar ves by the Chicago-based brand Wanderlustings are arranged above jew- elry cases holding pieces such as a 1945 skull signet ring by local designer Knot & Splice. "I literally have six or seven super-local girls—in Logan Square, Humboldt Park, Wicker Park—making jewelry right now," says Cronin, who has found herself sourcing more Chicago-made merchandise of late. "It's the year of going with my gut—really only carrying the things that I want to see in my home, that I want to be around every day. We bought nothing this year that was 'I'm buying this 'cause I should.' We only bought things that we were totally bananas for." And if there's one thing Cronin is wild about, it's f lowers. As someone whose dream is to take her staff of six to Amsterdam's Aalsmeer Flower Auction ("It's not some sweet girl with braids frolicking through a tulip f ield," she says w it h a laugh. "It 's act ua lly ver y much like t he stock excha nge —people t h row ing ha nd sig ns a nd yelling a nd bidding on things"), she's smitten with this season's yarrows and dahlias from growers in Michigan, not to mention her most beloved of blooms, hellebores and ranunculi. "I just never get sick of them," she says. "Even if I know I'm buy- ing fou r t imes a s ma ny a s we'll sell, I ca n't stop buy ing t hem. I hoa rd them." 1935 W. North Ave., 773-782-0680; asraigarden.com MA This year Elizabeth Cronin (right) has vowed to stock her shop (below) only with things "I want to be around every day." "Wicker Park's my home. I walk out the front door and see 10 people I know before I've reached the corner." —elizabeth cronin 104 michiganavemag.com secret city

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