Smell the Rosebud
2nd Annual Folsom Florals event returns with flowers, leather, art, and a serious purpose: supporting 15 years of queer-affirming mental health care at Queer LifeSpace in San Francisco.
Folsom Florals Returns Bigger and Sexier Than Ever
San Francisco has never had much trouble putting leather and rosebuds in the same room.
On Saturday, September 26, Queer LifeSpace and Chartreuse by Roje will present the second annual Folsom Florals: Smell the Rosebud, a cheeky, design-forward fundraiser, generously sponsored by the W San Francisco, benefiting affordable LGBTQIA+ mental health care.
From 1-6 PM at Chartreuse by Roje, 2095 Market Street, the floral boutique will transform into an immersive celebration of queer creativity timed to one of San Francisco’s biggest LGBTQIA+ weekends. Guests can expect floral installations by Harness, floral workshops and leather-floral decorating, live and immersive entertainment, drag and musical performances, silent art and wine auctions, curated drinks, and plenty of opportunities to mingle among flowers, art, and unexpected design.
The name of the event is playful, but the charitable cause is serious. Proceeds support the affordable queer-affirming therapy and clinical training programs of nonprofit counseling agency Queer LifeSpace, and the organization is continuing to welcome financial and in-kind sponsors who want to help underwrite the event and increase its charitable impact.
Fifteen Years of Queer-Affirming Care
Queer LifeSpace enters Folsom Florals during a milestone year. Founded in San Francisco in 2011, the nonprofit is celebrating 15 years of making mental health care more accessible to LGBTQIA+ people, particularly those who might otherwise struggle to afford consistent, culturally competent therapy.
Over those 15 years, QLS has served nearly 8,000 clients, delivered more than 60,000 therapy sessions, and trained more than 150 queer-affirming clinicians. Its model combines affordable individual, couples, and group therapy with an internationally recognized clinical training program designed to prepare the next generation of therapists to provide thoughtful, culturally affirming care. QLS also supports younger members of the community through initiatives including Outlandish!, Rural Youth Outreach, and its Emerging Queer Artists program.
That combination matters. QLS provides care directly, but its clinical training program extends the organization’s impact far beyond its own therapy rooms by helping more clinicians develop the knowledge and experience needed to work effectively with LGBTQIA+ clients.
“Fifteen years is a major milestone, but the numbers only tell part of the story. Folsom Florals captures something essential about Queer LifeSpace: we can be joyful, creative, and unapologetically queer while doing serious work for our community. This fundraiser helps make sure affordable, queer-affirming mental health care is here for the next generation.”
— Ryan MacCarrigan, Executive Director, Queer LifeSpace
Fundraising events like Folsom Florals help close a persistent gap between what therapy costs to provide and what many clients can afford to pay. They also create something QLS considers equally important: spaces where mental health, art, nightlife, and queer community can exist together.
Tickets, sponsorship information, and ways to support Queer LifeSpace can be found at queerlifespace.org and @queerlifespace on Instagram.
More Than a Flower Shop
Folsom Florals could hardly have a more fitting home than Chartreuse by Roje.
Created by owners Jeffrey and Roberto Dumlao, the 1,100-square-foot Market Street boutique deliberately stretches the definition of a neighborhood florist. Flowers share the space with art, home décor, distinctive vases, the shop’s Bougie Sheep candle collection, and four dramatically different design environments: a French-inspired dried-flower vignette, an Art Deco space, a lush secret indoor garden, and a midcentury-modern setting.
Chartreuse is at its best when the shop becomes a gathering place: part florist, part gallery, and part design salon. That makes it more than a backdrop for Folsom Florals—the boutique’s theatrical interiors, rotating artwork, and flowers become part of the experience itself.
Art is woven into that identity. Chartreuse showcases local and national artists and has developed an Artist-in-Residence program that turns the boutique into an evolving exhibition space rather than a static retail environment. That commitment has made the partnership with Queer LifeSpace a natural one: both organizations see creativity and community as things that should be actively cultivated.
Visit chartreusebyroje.com or follow @chartreusebyroje.
The Weight of Flowers
Throughout September, Chartreuse will also host The Weight of Flowers, a new exhibition by San Francisco artist Steven Vasquez Lopez, whose photograph graces this issue’s cover.
Lopez’s interdisciplinary practice explores identity, ritual, memory, masculinity, vulnerability, and queer experience. In The Weight of Flowers, photographic works meet a sculptural floral headdress made with fresh flowers and found and fabricated materials. As living flowers fade and are replaced during the exhibition, the work itself changes, turning care and renewal into part of the installation.
“Flowers have always carried stories. They celebrate, they mourn, they honor, and they disappear. They’re a language all their own.”
— Steven Vasquez Lopez
That language of care, remembrance, and renewal makes The Weight of Flowers a particularly resonant companion to a fundraiser centered on queer mental health and community. Check out the exhibition throughout September at Chartreuse by Roje and during the Folsom Florals fundraiser on September 26.
stevenvlopez.com · Instagram @stevenvasquezlopez