Fresh Blooms Brighten the Block

Published February 2025

Lovers of all things fun and floral, Julia Conrad and Claudia Lapena opened Rococo Floral co. in Bow Market in March of 2021. Their colorful designs quickly outgrew the space, with Rococo moving down the street on Somerville Ave in December of 2023. Between creating funky arrangements and leading workshops, Julia and Claudia took a moment to share their bright business’ story.

Tell us a little bit about Rococo!

Aside from walk-in visits at our Somerville-based retail store, Rococo offers carefully designed, memorable arrangements for pick-up and delivery to the greater Boston area. We deliver weekly flowers to private residences and businesses, host workshops, and design impressive event florals. 

We're all about elevating a space or special occasion with flowers—from centerpieces to large installations, Rococo can do it all (and would really love to!).

What inspired you to start a business? How did this feeling grow once you actually started your business?

Our love of flowers—and our desire to spread that love with everyone—no matter their age or knowledge or budget. We started the business hoping to make our store a space for people to feel creative and relaxed. 

The goal was for a trip to Rococo to be an experience rather than a simple transaction. It's been amazing to see customers inspired by a new flower variety or piece of plant knowledge!

Photographs by John O’Donnell

What aspect of your business makes you most proud to be a business leader in our community?

We feel so lucky to be a part of such a vibrant and thriving small business community where businesses support each other! We love to get creative with other small business leaders to come up with new and exciting ideas and events in the community—like Rococo Rose Fest, Makers Market, and our Artisan Series Workshops. 

It makes us really proud to bring cool ideas to fruition with other artists and businesses. And we can all support each other by working together in this way, plus come up with some amazing events and products to offer to the community.

How do you #LoveUnionSquare?

Loads and more each day!

If you were to plan the perfect outing in Union Square, where would you go and what would you do?

Julia: I would wake up early and walk with my dog Grizzly to grab a coffee at Remnant. Then head to Vinal Bakery for a sandwich and Rococo of course to make my own bouquet (or even just to look at the flower bar :)). A stroll through Bow Market is a must for some shopping and then round it out with dinner at Juliet and a drink at backbar or BRONWYN (depending on the mood).

Claudia: I would start with a walk from my house in East Somerville to Union Square to get a matcha latte from Maprang, then schmoozing and shopping at Bow Market. Meet a friend at Ebi Sushi (of course with a Lychee martini 😉). Top it off with a glass of wine and parm and honey dish at Juliet. 

From these ideal outings, you can tell we spend a lot of time together 😊

Do you have any "behind the scenes" or fun facts that a customer might not know already?

So many! Here are a handful, rapid-fire.

  • We have a studio location that we use to create all of our weddings and events out of at 86 Joy St! 

  • We wish people would buy a lot more orchids - please!!!

  • We compost each week with Bootstrap Compost!

  • We reward ourselves for our hard work with strawberry matcha lattes from Maprang.

  • We will drive an hour away to pick up the perfect local dahlia.

Rococo Floral co.’s studio and shop at 231 Somerville Ave is open Mon-Fri 11am-6pm & Sat-Sun 11am-5pm. Add florals to your feed by following them on Instagram.