We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carola Perla-Bartha. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carola below.
Hi Carola, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
The idea for my picnic styling service is probably best described as a series of ‘lightbulb’ moments. It didn’t come to me all at once, but rather flashed like a string of little beacons being set alight along a crest of hills that makes up my life. Which does make it sound so much more monumental than a picnic service has a right to! But the truth is that my picnic events mean a great deal to me, in the way that one’s own business and all the risk and sweat and uncertainty and investment and creative exhaustion means a lot to any small business owner.
It started early. I have loved picnics since I was a child – the pretend kind that involved spreading a quilt and teacups across the floor of our small studio apartment, as well as the real sort, going out into the Bavarian foothills to pick wildflowers and roast sausages on a portable grill in the shade of giant evergreens. I loved picnics as an art history college student, in Manet paintings and my favorite Jane Austen scenes. And I knew I wanted more picnics and tents and Moroccan poufs and charcuterie boards in my life every time I hosted a dinner party on pennies in my 20’s or ate supermarket salads on a park bench while traveling my 30’s.
I have loved the impromptu romance of meals in the grass and caravans and bistro lights as long as I can remember, each of my attempts getting more and more elaborate with hand-carved lanterns and larger furnishings. This tendency led people in my life to tap me for help with decoration advice for small weddings at first, and then for help with planning the whole day. I’m still not sure if they came to me because they liked my naturalistic, bohemian style, or because they trusted that I knew how to squeeze a dime!
In my mind, there was an ideal event, one with the light-heartedness of an al fresco meal in Provence, the hand-crafted romance of a Marrakesh courtyard, and the artistic originality of a 1960s beatnik cocktail party. In my in-between years, I tried to capture this in my private life, in the fiction I wrote, in my art works, and in the events I hosted at my family’s Wynwood gallery. Sometimes I came really close.
But perhaps the first time I thought my talents could be applied to a business concept was when my husband proposed to me, lamenting afterwards his difficulty in finding someone to help set up the scene. Every partner can attest to the stress of trying to plan something extraordinary for their beloved and dealing with the misplaced suspicion that results. Surprising someone is hard! It occurred to me that the need for smaller, bespoke event services existed. Something for small groups and couples. Thus, the idea of an outdoor decor business was born.
I introduced the idea of a picnic company to my friends and family in March 2019. No one had heard of a picnic company before. Although the concept has been popular in California and Australia for a long time, I was easily one of the first, if not ‘the’ original Miami picnic company at the time. Luckily everyone loved the look and feel of my setups, and I was soon on my way to booking events through pure word-of-mouth. Most of my business is still derived from personal referrals. It is the best kind of business and I take it as a deep compliment. Of course, these days the concept of a picnic company is widely understood. Especially with the pandemic and in light of social distancing. outdoor events have had a special moment. But the great thing about a city like Miami is that tastes range, the market leaves space for creativity, and outdoor locations are never in short supply. And when it rains, I know I’m not alone!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My company Paspalum Designs provides luxury picnic decor and flowers for clients desiring a unique event experience. We try to take the stress out of planning and staging private events in South Florida’s outdoor settings and offer carefully curated setups for couples and small groups (up to 30 guests).
I describe my decorating style as ‘Wanderlust’, meaning it is a mix of global accents and travel-inspired designs that evoke favorite destinations (think Portofino, Marrakesh, Joshua Tree, or Riviera Maya) while firmly celebrating Miami. I refine the ‘bohemian’ look with authenticity and luxury through high-end florals, beautiful materials like leather and linen, and lots of authentic, imported fabrics. The final result is a picnic scene composed of substantial furnishings that provide a natural, organic atmosphere, perfect for reconnecting with friends and loved ones.
In this naturalistic spirit, one of our key philosophies is Leave No Trace – clients can rest easily in the knowledge that we care as much for the beaches and green spaces we occupy as for their satisfaction. We try to limit one-time use products (including organic disposables) wherever possible, focusing our designs on reusable and durable materials. We try to constantly educate ourselves on the best environmental practices that help preserve our dunes and our wildlife (limiting artificial lights during nesting season, saying no to the use inflatable balloons and other plastics, etc.), and work on ways to help our clients do the same.
That said, our setups work equally well at home and private locations. In addition to our park & beach picnics, our past events have included home-based micro weddings, house warmings, birthdays, and baby showers, as well as romantic dinner events and wedding decor setups within commercial & hotel settings.
Ultimately, we aim to design a unique event that feels intimate and ‘real’, leading to authentic moments and glowing memories.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
For most of my 20s and 30s, I was actually a partner in my family’s Public Relations firm. We specialized in promoting travel & tourism products to the Latin American market and worked within this sphere successfully for almost two decades. After years of working with excellent results, the rise of social and digital media proved a big disruptor for how agencies like ours operated. It seemed like it happened overnight, it crept on us so surreptitiously – one moment we were doing business as usual, and in the next, hundreds of respected magazine editors, newspaper journalists, and other media colleagues we used to contact were gone. In their place were interns and influencers. Our clients needed us to adapt. Looking back after nearly ten years of this new world, it no longer feels strange. But at the time it was a turning point for us. As a family we chose to step away rather than reinvent, and we focused on our artistic work at our Wynwood-area gallery instead. But soon, progress found us here as well. Warehouse studios and artists were soon failing to hold their own against million-dollar investments, high-end franchises, and expensive eateries. In many ways, my picnics are an answer to this changing world – it is a creative outlet that is also infinitely adaptable and not dependent on a particular space or location. Through three years of pandemic restrictions, evolving trends, and Miami’s ever mercurial weather, this concept has held on. Every setback has been matched by a little triumph.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
Near-death moments in the picnic world are almost always weather-related! Miami is, at best, changeable. Here is not the perpetual 72-degree sunny world of Southern California. Storms can form in a second and burst on your meticulously arranged picnic without warning…sometimes twice or three times in one reservation! When that happens, even the best-intentioned beach cabana doesn’t stand a chance. This is not counting the weather-related postponements and cancelations. We always try to impress on our clients the importance of a back-up covered location. But everyone wants the romance of the beach, the sunset views, digging your toes in the sand, and we can’t argue with them. But long-term planning in light of this one challenge can often be…challenging. Bad weather can mean the difference between the best month of your professional life or no business at all. But it has also taught me many lessons and encouraged me to be more creative thinking about my local partnerships, online presence, and booking process.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.paspalumdesigns.com
- Instagram: paspalumdesigns
- Facebook: paspalumdesigns
- Linkedin: carolaperla