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Tylor Rogers knows a thing or two about finding beauty in nature. He’s developed a keen eye for it as the co-owner of Northeast Portland plant shop Arium Botanicals and as an artist, often painting plants or other blooms.
Selling houseplants and creating oil paintings might seem distinct pursuits, but Rogers approaches both with similar intention. At Arium, he consults customers about their home’s aesthetics and growing conditions, often suggesting one sculptural tree instead of multiple, smaller shrubs. He makes buying a plant feel like bringing home a living, growing piece of art. But with his paintings, Rogers steers away from white-walled galleries for the most part, instead showing his art in shops, coworking spaces and pop-up group shows—setting the tone for how they might fit into a life.
Rogers’ own life seems to be blossoming right now. His paintings are selling, he’s planning a wedding with his partner in business and life, Alba Sánchez, and together they’re getting ready to open a second Arium location this December, in the old Bearing Service Co. Building on Northwest Everett Street at 11th Avenue.
“We waited to expand until the right building came up,” Rogers says. “This sun-drenched, industrial space is exactly what we’ve been hoping for.”
Built in 1944, the landmark yellow building was designed by famed Portland architect Richard Sundeleaf and operated as an engine repair and fabrication shop until the summer of 2025. Rogers and Sánchez plan to lean into the building’s history, as they did with the original store, a former auto body shop. Retracting garage doors add a vintage, industrial feel to both—and also make receiving shipments that much easier.
Arium went through a few iterations to get to this point. Rogers dropped out of Indiana University one semester shy of graduating to start the project in 2014. “They had a beautiful conservatory,” he says. “Walking in there was when my life changed.” But the business really took off when Rogers and Sánchez moved to Portland in 2017, schlepping their belongings and rebooting their business in a new city thousands of miles away.
In addition to in-shop sales and providing plants for local businesses, Arium does a good amount of online business, and has a significant social media following (150,000 followers), which feels rare for a plant store.
Plants may be Rogers first business but painting was his first love. He sees his work as diaristic. It’s about finding beauty in simple, everyday moments. “Even early on, I was painting a lot of flowers,” Rogers says. “But you’re not just viewing a painting of a bloom, there’s often a story behind it. Like, who gave me that flower, or the life moment that occurred.”
Rogers has a heavy hand as a painter. He layers colors “wet on wet” into a thick topography, almost like frosting swirls on a cake. It’s a vigorous process, and one he prefers to achieve in a single, sometimes daylong session, or “alla prima.”
“Oftentimes, when I’m done painting, I feel like I just got done working out,” Rogers laughs.
Rogers maintained a painting practice while growing the shop, but he kept his work private. It wasn’t until 2023 that he warmed to sharing his art, starting with a solo show at the Southeast industrial area vintage home goods and furniture showroom Wilma.
Gloria Noto, owner of Bar Noto, has shown Rogers’ paintings behind the bar and atop racks of designer vintage in her shop.
“His pieces just fit, as if they are blooming from within the space,” Noto says, mentioning that one of Rogers’ paintings now hangs in her house.
Anne Parker, a production designer and prop stylist, saw a small-scale painting of Rogers’ on Bar Noto’s gallery wall one afternoon and bought it on the spot.
“On the way out the door, I was struck by a small but powerful abstract painting,” Parker says. “I don’t usually buy art on a whim, but I walked out with it minutes later because I just needed it in my life.”
Rogers’ knack for composition spans both his art and his client work with Arium. In the shop, he might help a customer find an air-purifying snake plant for a bedroom nook, or a serpentine pothos vine to suit a tall bookshelf. But he also partners with restaurants like Farag’s and The Richmond Club to craft custom plant arrangements.
“When I’m thinking about plant design for a space, I want a nice, visual impact,” Rogers says. “I want that same thing in a painting.”
Dan Casto, owner of the bars Double Dragon and The Richmond Club, describes collaborating with Arium as “an enormous part of the identity” of his businesses. “I have always struggled to find an efficient language for speaking the vibe that exists in my head to life in a way that someone can measure and draw up and build,” Casto says. “Arium has always picked up what the rooms themselves are putting down.”
Though a lot of the creative energy comes from the same place, it seems that bouncing between his two worlds, paintings and plants, keeps Rogers engaged. “I come back from vacation almost ravenous for either one,” he says. “There are no true days off for me. I still pop into Arium even when I’m not working. The lines are blurred, but I love it.”
Another reason for that being that working at Arium means working with Sánchez, “a radiating force.” They will often drive over from their house in Sabin for a shift at the shop together, their dog Tulip in tow—a customer favorite. “We grew up within the walls of Arium,” Rogers says. “And our customers [have] too. Some came in to help furnish their first apartment, then years later we’ll see them pregnant, and then they’ll bring in their child. It’s wholesome.”
