Kyle Barrett has loved florals for as long as he can remember. His mother taught him how to garden at an early age, and he spent countless hours in the dirt planting with her at his family’s cattle ranch in East Texas. “Our shared love of flowers became the foundation of everything I create,” he tells Business of Home.
As an adult, Barrett opened a floral design studio in Texarkana that quickly gained a national following. Working alongside floral designer Lee Ann Garton, he handcrafted arrangements for more than 800 weddings and 300 private events across the country. “People often asked how my arrangements had such a distinct, organic quality, or where my ideas came from,” he says. “I would think back to those days on the ranch and say, ‘I want all of my florals to look as though they were gathered with two hands from their natural environment.’”
Barrett sold his studio in 2017 to help his partner, Dwayne Bergmann, on interior design projects, and quickly saw a need for long-lasting floral arrangements that could moonlight as decor. “I was never a fan of artificial flowers, so I set out to create pieces that were so lifelike and refined that even fresh-flower loyalists could fall in love,” he says.
He spent the next few years sourcing the finest silks (for petals and leaves) and testing everything from the most waterlike acrylic paint to the best ways to weave fake grass. “I went through about 3,000 samples before settling on just a stem,” he says. “I kept 13 different types of acrylic water in my garage for two years, just to see which ones tolerated heat and light, before settling on two that produced the most natural-looking bubbles.”
In 2025, he and Bergmann launched Barrett Bergmann Home, a Fort Myers, Florida–based decor brand that carries furnishings, accessories, and Barrett’s line of exceptionally realistic—and expertly prearranged—faux florals. “Each flower is hand-cut from real-touch silk-blend fabrics and hand-painted,” he says.
He has reunited with Garton, and the pair hand-pick each and every flower and, depending on the aesthetic style, fold leaves and bend stems to sculptural effect. “We draw a lot of inspiration from the minimalist Japanese ikebana style, which calls for fewer flowers than traditional arrangements, so you can form a more clean-lined silhouette,” she says.
Barrett Bergmann Home offers dozens of faux floral arrangements, which feature a medley of popular flowers, including peonies, tulips, hydrangeas, orchids and calla lilies, accompanied by decorative accents that span in-house-designed ceramic vessels, salvaged driftwood and the brand’s proprietary grass. “Production time can range from several hours to a few days, depending on the design,” says Barrett.
The brand also offers whole home floral consultations, where Barrett works directly with designers to create custom compositions for entire projects. “Interior designers see the whole picture—they understand proportion, mood, and how every element in a home should work together,” he says. “Working together allows us to create arrangements that feel intentional, layered, and truly integrated into the home.”
Barrett is currently hard at work on the next line of Barrett Bergmann Home florals—including the Tiffany, resplendent with foxtail lilies and anthurium blooms—which he plans to showcase at High Point Market this spring. “The benefits of faux arrangements are undeniable: They’re effortless, long-lasting, and always look their best—no watering, wilting or weekly replacements,” he says. “They bring beauty and warmth to a home every single day, [even if] you’ve been gone for a weekend or a month.”
