Anthophila 01 — Santa Cruz Mountains

Anthophila 01 emerges from the forests of California’s Pacific coast range, shaped by long walks through the Santa Cruz Mountains during spring bloom. Along winding trails beneath redwood canopies and across sunlit clearings, wildflowers appear unexpectedly—small moments of color scattered throughout the landscape. Each bloom became the foundation for this collection.

As the inaugural palette in the Anthophila series, this collection begins an ongoing body of work centered on botanical field observation, translating the colors of specific plant species and their surrounding ecosystems into pigment.

The palette gathers six colors drawn directly from flora observed throughout the region.

Western Heart’s Ease carries a creamy white, delicate and luminous against the darker forest floor.
Pink Honeysuckle unfolds into a muted rose pink, gentle and warm.
Redwood Violet offers a pale yellow touched by filtered sunlight beneath the canopy.
Solomon’s Plume settles into a chalky green inspired by fresh woodland growth.
Broadleaf Forget-Me-Not opens into a quiet pastel blue, cool and atmospheric.
Western Starflower moves toward a soft lilac pink, echoing petals suspended above layers of green.

Each hue is grounded in direct observation, named for the flower from which it was derived and connected to the rich ecology of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Together, they describe a season of flowering understories, moving between shade and sunlight, canopy and clearing, delicacy and abundance.

Formulated to create a range of expression, from translucent washes to layered passages of depth and nuance. The pigments interact to produce subtle transitions and unexpected harmonies across the collection.