By Emily Williams-Robertshaw
Regardless of whether she meant to, Cindy Robinson raised her daughters, Melanie Pounds and Anne-Emory Lockert, to be tastemakers.
A Mountain Brook florist, Robinson raised her family in Tuscaloosa.
She picked up her first experiences in flower arranging in her first home.
“I just wanted flowers in my house,” Robinson said. “So, I started doing it.
“As time went on, people started asking me to do flowers for them, but I never did it professionally.”
While living in Tuscaloosa, she was asked by a representative of the University of Alabama to volunteer her time to arrange flowers for events. Serving in that capacity, she began to see it as a career.
“When I moved back to Birmingham, someone told me to call Carole Sullivan,” Robinson said.
She spent well over a decade working with Sullivan, the owner of the Crestline floral shop Lagniappe Designs, which closed in 2019 when Sullivan retired.
“She had 12 to 15 other people who worked with her and they were all so creative,” Robinson said. “We learned from each other and just got along so well.”
Picking up a creative and crafty skill is not something that is foreign to Robinson. Her daughters have watched her choose to create rather than purchase, even if it means learning a new skill. In fact, learning a new skill is encouraged.
Both of Robinson’s daughters have forged professional careers based in creativity.
Lockert, who studied art in college, put down her paints professionally to create a custom jewelry design studio known as Anne-Emory Studios.
Pounds is the owner of Patina in Mountain Brook Village, where she also operates as an interior designer.
“A constant question is, did you grow up knowing that your mom was creative,” Lockert said. “Whatever your surroundings are is just what is normal to you.”
Looking back, their childhood home was bursting with creativity.
“Mom worked in every medium,” she said. “It wasn’t just flowers. It was cooking, sewing, arranging the house and everything that goes into keeping a home and entertaining.”
Robinson even made jewelry at one point. Not professionally, but just for herself or to give to others.
Perhaps that inspired Lockert to consider a career in jewelry design.
“(Robinson) would see a necklace and would say, ‘It’s silly that it’s that expensive. We can do something like that,’” Lockert said.
Lockert and Pounds were exposed to a little bit of everything.
The desire to create rather than purchase began in high school, when Robinson wanted a coat. Her mom told her she wouldn’t buy it for her, but she would buy materials for Robinson to sew her own.
“I wear it to this day,” Pounds said. “People comment on it all the time and I tell them my mother made it when she was 16. It is fabulous.”
The A-line coat is made of white wool with a leopard printed collar.
“It’s beautifully tailored,” Lockert said. “She is so particular and so precise and detail-oriented.”
Sewing is something Robinson loves to do not only for herself and her daughters but now for her five granddaughters.
“My daughters inspire me,” Robinson said. “They will send me pictures and say, ‘I would love this top for my girl.’ It’s always a fun challenge.”
Robinson made the dress Pounds wore for her bridesmaids luncheon. The pair also came up with the design for the bridesmaids’ dresses.
“Do you remember when I was little and you wanted … pots to look aged?” Pounds asked Robinson.
“We put buttermilk on them to make the moss grow on the pot,” Robinson said.
It’s never about whether you can do it yourself. With a little research, the ladies have found a way and had fun on the journey.
“We didn’t have google,” Pounds said. “So, we would have to research and read about innovative things that people were doing.
“I think that has helped me in running a creatively inspired business,” she said. To be innovative, Pounds and Lockert don’t jump to the easy route but, instead, enjoy the search for that new and exciting artisan or method.
“It makes everything seem possible,” Lockert said. “(Robinson) learned that from a really young age and raised us to think that it can be done and you can do it within your own vision.”
Throughout the pandemic, having an outlet based in possibility has been important for the entire family.
“We were all searching for something, weren’t we?” Robinson said. “Something to keep us occupied and bring us together.”
“Maybe people had to explore creativity that they didn’t even know was there,” Pounds said. “Cooking, sewing, drawing, making jewelry.”
As the world begins to work its way back to a place of normalcy lost more than a year ago, Robinson and her family plan to use the upcoming Mother’s Day holiday to take it easy.
“I’ve always told them, I’ve had my mother’s days,” she said. “Now I want to do what you want to do.”
The family plans to come together, perhaps by the pool, for a day of restorative relaxation with some good food and maybe even a few flowers.