Author
James Darton
Contributing Editor
Sarah Ryhanen is the custodian of two of our favourite things out there right now: artisanal soap brand Saipua and the World’s End farm. Trading in the merciless art world of New York to grow flowers in the beautiful countryside further upstate, she’s basically living our dream.
Articulate and thoughtful, she is also capable of plucking great soundbites out of thin air (has there ever been a more perfectly succinct answer to why flowers make such great gifts than the one she gives at the end of this piece?). More so than this however - or perhaps because of this - what resonates is an overwhelming sense of the values, passions and work ethic that she pours into every aspect of her flower-filled life.
We were thrilled to delve into her background and the two unique projects to which she is currently devoting her life.
![1 Floom Magazine Sarah Ryhanen Saipua Farm New York Flower Arrangement 2](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_flower_arrangement_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=d1adcc312534f6f4d0a52102f98162bb 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_flower_arrangement_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=efab0e17f2e43cea50d73bfd010cd158 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_flower_arrangement_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=c515588ddcede3cf6357c194e509b4b4 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_flower_arrangement_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=e50bf823382ef09a772d05c80d02297b 400w)
Your website states that your background is in contemporary art. Could you tell us a little about your journey from there to founding Saipua?
I was working my dream job - assistant curator at the non-profit art centre, Exit Art. It took a few years working my way up in the art world to get there. I had come to NYC with a newspaper clipping of a review for the famous show, ‘The Reconstruction’. But then a year into my job there I got restless and starting seeing how the art world was not for me. By that time I had already started Saipua as a hobby project to help sell my mother’s soap. I was making the flowers for openings at Exit Art and enjoyed that immensely. My boss and mentor, Jeanette Ingberman saw this all before I did - she called me into her office one day and asked what was going on. I resigned on the spot and was really supported by her to make this transition to pursue flowers and Saipua full time.
Did a love of flowers exist alongside your love of art, or was it a natural progression from one world to the other? Do you see similarities between the two?
I think I'm good at arranging things, seeing colours together and seeing balance - or beautiful imbalance I should say. My love of flowers started with a particularly striking bouquet I was given for my 25th birthday by my partner Eric, a few years before we opened Saipua.
![1 Floom Magazine Sarah Ryhanen Saipua Farm New York Growing Flowers 5](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_growing_flowers_5.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=1282d0d0677bd0788c8ec0fba9c792f8 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_growing_flowers_5.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=8f02a21296986d135f338b42f3f37561 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_growing_flowers_5.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=4bca510f153efaabacd130b8e4a4890d 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_growing_flowers_5.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=671d1d1c138a5a5e1c27f91af7b4ca0b 400w)
What triggered the decision to buy your own farm? It must have been a huge undertaking! Was it a struggle to reconcile the logistical challenges etc with the no doubt an incredibly romantic vision of running your own flower farm?
We knew we could never afford to buy a place in NYC where we worked and lived - and I definitely wanted an opportunity to start tinkering with gardening and growing some of my own flowers. The romance of farming is real, but it looks very different to the way it is often portrayed in the media. It's hard to describe it; for me it's a lot about striving for some sort of synergy in life, or simply put - just more connection to life. When you grow your own food and raise your own meat and arrange your own flowers, that’s a pretty real experience. Now that we've figured out that stuff, the next part is figuring out how to share pieces of those experience with our community. People in the city are just so hungry for nature, and our ultimate goal with the farm at Worlds End is to offer them a resource to tap into that very human right.
![1 Floom Magazine Sarah Ryhanen Saipua Farm New York Farm 1](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_farm_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=87bb26cde61e3037db7409c7857f13a5 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_farm_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=096bbff01b1b3915d6efda22b201a87b 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_farm_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=a1a8f0023d5141a7194b3f01c69276ba 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_farm_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=f8d471f601f21279fb1dd2fdde070fdc 400w)
Where does the name Saipua come from? And why 'World's End'?
Saipua is derived from the Finnish word for soap, saippua. My dad is Finnish and there is a very rich bathing culture there surrounding the use of sauna baths. We removed a 'p' to make it unique to our business.
World’s End came from my favourite TC Boyle book - and also refers to the far flung location of the farm. We're really in the middle of nowhere.
Could you talk us through a typical day at World’s End (if indeed there is such a thing)?
Winter is slower and consists just of animal chores, morning and afternoon. We wake up around seven in the morning and see animals between eight and nine – the sheep get hay. Then we break the ice out of their water containers and haul hot water up to them. We have two livestock guardian dogs that live with the flock and they get fed and petted. The chicken coop gets opened and the 17 laying hens get new feed and water. Then often I'm inside working on the computer (I'm trying to write a book, slowly…) or spinning our sheep’s wool.
![1 Floom Magazine Sarah Ryhanen Saipua Farm New York Sheep In Snow 2](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_sheep_in_snow_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=354dda997b082f71c72127a4972fc6a2 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_sheep_in_snow_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=7ae207ed9cb4fb1d1a717620e67a7f75 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_sheep_in_snow_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=7c2de86cb16c7b6194b9fe76c24c772e 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_sheep_in_snow_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=151bd2a06f966b693dce0064aa6d77ba 400w)
What is your favourite thing about running your own flower farm?
Growing whatever dream flowers I want! It's been an immense amount of struggle and failure but slowly we really are starting to grow some incredible flowers that I can't get anywhere else. This is a dream for a flower designer.
And the most challenging?
Balancing that with the attention I need to pay to our business in the city. I love the back and forth, I feed off it, but it's not easy. Saipua in the city needs so much vision and attention and we struggle to make both exceptional every season. The farm benefits our city work - those clients get the best flowers - but it's a struggle to make sure our energy doesn't get split as we grow the business to be in two places...
![1 Floom Magazine Sarah Ryhanen Saipua Farm New York Chickens 1](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_chickens_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=2cbc26165043ac760ff00a3420c1c2de 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_chickens_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=abda023c49bd336597c28c81207820a7 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_chickens_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=70131a2b2554066154c536d1381aec00 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_chickens_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=2ce757d20bf30ced6854e8faf5ab7dca 400w)
Its clear from your website that the team you work with is incredibly important to the journey you’re on. How do you find people for a project such as this? Are they from farming backgrounds or more unexpected walks of life?
I'm glad that's clear - I'm crazy about my team - and we'd never have gotten to where we are without the insane amount of work and vision of the current and former staff. They are really from all over the map - literally and figuratively. We hire for personality only. I don't care if they know anything about farming or flowers or event logistics - that can all be taught. Values and work ethic and a certain zest can't be taught.
Do you have any particular approach/goals that you feel define Saipua/World’s End, and perhaps sets you apart in the flower world?
Two things really drive us - sensitivity to nature and community. With every decision we make, we ask ourselves: does this serve our mission to build a community or effect environmental change? If yes then we move forward, if not we toss the idea. I think lots of my colleagues participate in the business with those things in mind. Maybe not to the same extent. But we really occupy an incredible flower world right now; one that is hungry for better, cleaner flowers grown with responsible labour.
![1 Floom Magazine Sarah Ryhanen Saipua Farm New York Farm 3](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_farm_3.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=c2e6b0a0087caa4763a58a6e7e74eef3 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_farm_3.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=af0dbdb6dab27491a3d643ace1866013 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_farm_3.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=5f8fa52fcd31a81673cff29caf60fb9a 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_-magazine_sarah_ryhanen_saipua_farm_new_york_farm_3.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=c5108ae5629553557eb90ccf32ae295e 400w)
Are you working on any particularly interesting projects or with any notable clients at the moment?
We're launching PLANTLAB this March - a week of programming all about houseplants, plant culture, and city food growing. Details soon...
Do you have a favourite flower? Does it change dependent on different variables?
Bearded Iris!
Why do you think flowers make such good gifts? What in your opinion sets a good gift of flowers apart from a bad one?
Flowers remind us of the beautiful, temporal nature of life. It's the best gift ever.
Find out more about Saipua here.