The Blossom Boys

Ryan Steinbach, new co- owner of The Blossom Boys European floral Shop in the heart of beautiful Beverly Hills, Chicago Illinois, was born in Peoria, Illinois and raised in Springfield. His ancestry is a  mixture of Irish, English, French, and German.   As a child, he showed an exceptional interest in drawing and colouring. He also developed an intense interest in paleontology. He wanted to study this in college, but when he discovered he would only be able to teach geology and biology, his interest shifted to something more artistic.  He wanted to find an outlet for his love of colour , texture, and design, which had begun at a very early age. Throughout his life, Ryan’s interests and aptitudes have been a curious blend of scientific and artistic. He appreciated the ancient aspect , theory and analysis of things; they fed his amazing imagination. In addition to his artistic gifts, he was also blessed with (thanks to his mother) an awareness of the importance of organization.  This aptitude has served him extremely well.

After attending one  year of school at Eastern Illinois  in Charleston, Ryan informed his family he was withdrawing  from the University to pursue his interest in art.  It was not an easy decision to make, but it was the right one  according to Steinbach. He applied to Illinois Institute of Art where he was accepted and happily studied fashion design. He then moved to Chicago and lived in student housing. He graduated with a B.F.A. in Fashion Design. Soon after graduation, he became a costume stylist at Broadway Costumes. While there, he became the personal assistant to the owner and the masquerade stylist.. He was responsible for all  masquerade  rentals on holidays and pulled costumes for theatrical productions. At first he enjoyed it, but felt his artistic soul was not being nourished. He moved  on after two years. Soon after, his craving for a more artistic expression of himself  led him into his own, personally designed  line of hand bags named “Dandy Boy”.  He did very well selling the beautiful hand  crafted  limited edition designed  hand bags at  trunk shows .

After another several years, Ryan felt the artisitc urge to move on again.  His  next career move was into a  floral  company with a large corporate business  located in downtown Chicago. At first he began taking care of plants in offices and large corporations. He quickly rose to a position in  floral design where his extraordinary sense of  color, design and fashion found a perfect harmony. Steinbach  was a natural in floral arranging

Again Steinbach, was ready to branch out and start something that was his own. One day at work he saw an ad posted for a floral shop for sale in Beverly Hills. Steinbach and his partner, Steve English, came to see the shop  at 99th and Walden Parkway. Steinbach immediately fell in love with it. English wasn’t quite convinced, but they eventually decided to forge ahead and  combine Steinbachs artistc qualifications with English’s business background and voila… The Blossom Boys began. They are thrilled to announce  they are celebrating their one year anniversary being in business with the shop. The floral business is flourishing for the duo and they have branched out into novelty gifts, cards and fair trade jewelery which  has been a smashing success for the shop.

In addition to starting a business here, they have also taken a major step and purchased a home in Beverly. Formerly from the north side of Chicago  they were glad to leave it and the commute to work behind. It has been, in Steinbach’s words, “A refreshing new start”. They profess their love of  the  neighborhood, the people, the beauty, and are thrilled to be a part of this community.

© 2009, The Blossom Boys. All rights reserved.

Tags: Beverly, Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills Chicago, Chicago Florist, Chicago Florist Beverly, design, floral design, floral designer, florist

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 12:48 pm and is filed under History. Both comments and pings are currently closed.