Lisa Muñoz is a Brooklyn-based interior plant designer who rooted her love for plants as a child in Texas, where she spent her early years helping her grandparents in their gardens. Her studio, Leaf and June, draws its name from her own nickname and her influential grandmother, June. After earning her Certificate in Horticulture from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in 2013, Lisa turned that experience into a practice that transforms residential and commercial spaces through interior plant design. In 2021, Lisa’s first book House Planted: Choosing, Growing, and Styling the Perfect Plants for your Space was published by Ten Speed Press.
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You design living spaces with living things — how does working with something that changes daily influence the way you approach design?
I am always designing with growth in mind: the growth of the plant, the evolution of the space, and the relationship between the two. My goal is to create an immediate impact, but my focus is equally on the long term. I’m constantly looking ahead, planning how the plants and the people will cohabitate and evolve together. It’s about building a design that isn’t just static—it’s alive, and it’s meant to thrive over time.
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Plants require patience, timing, and attention. Has caring for them changed how you relate to your own pace in life or work?
It’s a constant practice in patience. They’ve taught me that you can’t rush growth; you can only provide the right environment for it to happen. I try to be more intentional about slowing down to ensure that whatever I’m working on has the time and support it needs to truly thrive.
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You’ve worked in fast-paced production and now in something much more organic. What did you have to unlearn to make space for this shift?
I’ve been able to apply my production experience to my plant design work, but with a much more methodical, slower approach. I’ve had to learn to lead with patience rather than just efficiency. Bringing plants into people’s lives has an immediate, tactile impact, and I feel very fortunate to experience that transformation firsthand.
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Looking back, do you see your career as a series of pivots or a continuous build?
It feels like a continuous build. Every stop along the way has had helpful takeaways - both positive and challenging - which I’ve been able to apply to where I am currently. I’m constantly reminding myself that growth isn't always linear; everything I’ve experienced is part of the same process and I’m applying that to Leaf and June everyday.
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Was there a moment where choosing plants meant walking away from something more stable or defined? How did you make the decision to commit to plants/plant design?
It was a very slow transition for me. My commercial production work is what allowed me to start and build the plant business. I had to find ways to balance between the two, often spending my weekends and evenings immersed in plant life. I found that the more time I dedicated to my plant business, the more plant design projects I had coming in. Over the course of several years I was able to take on less production work to focus more on plant design and my days are more fulfilling. Today, I still maintain a foot in the production world, but I’ve shifted my focus to documentary films, which allows me to work on projects that are as creatively rewarding as my plant design work.
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So many people feel pressure to “pick a lane.” What would you say to someone who feels pulled in multiple creative directions?
I would encourage them to keep exploring those different paths. You don't have to 'pick a lane' overnight. For a long time, I balanced two worlds—commercial production and plant design—because each offered something the other didn't. The goal is to find that work that doesn't feel like 'work' 100% of the time, and sometimes, that happens while you're wearing multiple hats and figuring it out.
