Considering a career in floristry?

Many of our customers are professionally involved in the flower trade, with a good number working as florists, but quite a few of our readers are amateur flower arrangers who do it purely for the love of creating beautiful displays for their own home or for friends and family.

Amateur flower arranging brings its own rewards and is one of the most fulfilling hobbies anyone can have – most professional florists will tell you it’s why they got into the business in the first place. But what if you want to take that hobby further? How does someone go about making the transition from keen amateur to making a living from their passion?

Unlike some other professions, the route to working as a florist isn’t set in stone. However, if you’re going to be a successful florist you will need some form of training to develop the skills required.

Many budding florists start off working in an established shop, learning the tricks of the trade from an employer who has the experience necessary to point a trainee in the right direction and provide them with an apprenticeship – whether as part of a formal “Modern Apprenticeship” scheme or a more informal “show them the ropes” arrangement.

Leading florist Jane Packer started out this way; working in a local florists during her school holidays before taking a full-time job after leaving school. After several years working under another florist she took the step of opening her own shop aged 22, and has gone from strength to strength ever since.

This kind of on-the-job training is great for developing a rounded knowledge of the business of floristry; giving trainees an insight in the commercial side of working in a floristry shop, including dealing with customers, getting the best value out of flowers and working on speed of construction.

Probably a more common route though is college-based training. Lots of colleges run courses on flower arranging and it’s an accessible way of learning the skills you require without making a commitment to a career straight away. Learning some of the required skills and earning a qualification can also make you more attractive to a florist looking to take someone on, as they won’t have to teach everything from scratch.

You may be able to combine the two approaches; gaining a qualification in college, whilst working part-time in a shop to further your training and put some of what you’ve learned into practice. Which path you choose is ultimately down to your personal preference; the important thing is that you develop your skills and enjoy what you’re doing.

Stephen

What does it take to become a NAFAS Demonstrator, Steely strength, good sense of humour?

We thought we had better investigate!  So we invited our very own Sussex Demonstrator along to the warehouse for a chat to find out more…….

Stephen for anyone who knows him is a larger than life character, full of enthusiasm and cheeky wit.  When he walks into a room you soon know he has arrived.  Let me give you an example:

When Stephen arrived at Workbox this morning to give us the lowdown on his year ahead for this article he came in carrying a four foot long ‘leaf’ from the Agava Americana plant.  He had just been to the flower market first thing that morning and bought three of these spiky leaves – like you do – and thought we would be interested in seeing this exotic piece of ‘natural sculpture’ he would being using in his next demo.  Quite an entrance by any ones standards!

Agave Americana

We asked Stephens to give us his life history up until now and believe you me he did!  Here’s the bits we could share with you:

At the tender age of twenty four Stephen made the move across the water from Dublin to Crawley in search of work.  Crawley wasn’t all he had hoped it would be so he took refuge in sunny Brighton.

His first career opportunity was non other than MFI, here he trained in kitchen design.  By sheer chance and poor organisation on MFI’s behalf Stephen was called in to design some emergency sets to showcase the latest Kitchens for an important client.  This was where it all changed!  Like a bolt of lightning his creative juices got the better of him.  Rising to the challenge using his natural flare and eye for colour he completely strayed from the standard remit and revamped the whole design. The powers that be were so impressed; they used his ideas across all the MFI stores.  Not content with designing kitchens Stephen moved on to bigger and better things – property development.  Yes we’ve all seen it on tv with Sarah Beany and her band of not so happy and ever so stressed wanna be developers.  But clearly Stephen has the stomach for it and still does it to this day with a smile and calm persona.  What’s his secret to successful developing – Simple ‘Be very organised!’.

So with a hectic schedule developing how did he get involved in NAFAS?

The answer – by accident!  One Christmas he was surfing the web on the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) website and fell upon the NAFAS site.  They were looking for candidates to take part in a Flower Arranging Competition.  Egged on by his mates he decided to enter and would you know it, he got a ‘Highly Commended’.  So from here on it just kind of snowballed!

And what a snowball!  From that day Stephen was encouraged to become a demonstrator, which meant undergoing training and exams.  Which of course he successfully passed, and we can verify he is now an amazing demonstrator that can certainly hold an audience.  We first met him when he was demonstrating at a Christmas show in Henfield.  The theme of the event was “Tarts What Do”.  Stephen took the lead role as ‘Tanya Hide’ in a bright orange wig and size 9 stiletto heels. The audience loved the whole show and a year later customers are still reminiscing about it.

Chelsea Gold Award

And just when you thought there was no more this man could do – he went on to win Gold at the Chelsea Flower Show last year something he would like to do again this year.

So what does the year ahead hold?  Here are a few dates in his diary:

May 24^Th  :  RHS Chelsea Flower Show

June 9^th :     South of England Show

June 15^th  : WAFA –Boston USA (World Association of Flower Arrangers)

Sussex Flower Festival at Nymans – 50^th Anniversary Year

RHS Wisley

September 22^nd NAFAS National Show

Various local demonstrations and area shows.

I can see already 2011 is going to be an extremely busy year for Stephen!  He is particularly looking forward to flying out to America for the WAFA show.  This is an event which is held every three years and will be quite a feat of engineering. Stephen will have to organise all the flowers, plants, props and resources etc via the internet to be delivered direct to the show.  His stand will be 8 feet tall by 5 feet wide and the theme is “Reef”.  He has already begun designing the piece in his garage and is in the process of creating a mock up.  It’s obvious that Stephen loves a challenge, in fact I get the impression he thrives on it.

Well we wish him every success this year and thank him for his time talking to us.  Stephen is undoubtedly a really top bloke!

Family run enterprises have a very different feel about them when compared to “corporate”.  Most rely on the each other’s relentless work ethic and depend heavily on the trust that can exist amongst close family and so it is with The Village Nursery.  Like most small to medium sized private businesses, The Village Nursery has to work hard to differentiate their offering to the public.  Just like all retailers they face the significant competition from DIY stores and large Garden Centre chains – so needless to say we were intrigued on finding out what keeps the customers flooding back….

Firstly, passion for the job: –

Evident in abundance from the head of clan Peter Manfield.  Peter got a taste of horticulture at a very young age; at the tender age of 11 his grandad (who ran his own nursery) bought him his very first poly tunnel (when we were all getting a bike!).  Being a shrewd business “man” at a very young age he grew his own plants and sold them back to his Grandad’s nursery – bet he could afford a nice bike after that little profit!  However, as time passed Peter was encouraged to follow a career into financial services as times toughened significantly in the nursery trade.  So having finished Horticultural College he reluctantly “put on his suit” and went to work in a bank.  Needless to say you can take the boy out of horticulture but you can’t take horticulture out of the boy – so needless to say banking lasted only 6 months!  From that day on he decided to follow his dream and knew that one day he would have his own Nursery.

And today Peter is now the proud owner of a 3.5 acre plot in the heart of a beautiful village in West Sussex.  He has a top notch workforce of his mum Shelia 73, dad Roy 74, niece Sally 30 and 2 casual workers, which is pretty amazing when you bear in mind the scale of the job they undertake. 

Secondly, “Total Quality”: –

Well they truly focus every effort in producing the highest quality of plants available in their area.  This might sound an obvious point, but it is rare a business has this mantra running through its veins.  Each individual plant is hand reared from tiny plugs.  Stage by stage they are grown on until they are strong enough to be purchased by any amateur gardener. Sally comments ‘we want people to be able to take the plants, put them in their garden and enjoy watching them grow.  The plants should be leaving our nursery strong so that any level of gardener will be able to grow them on successfully’.  So there is no automated “watering”, it’s all done carefully by hand twice a day, every day.  And gardeners know the quality is second to none as witnessed by the lines of hanging baskets that have been brought to populate by their loyal customers.

The same ethos runs through the floristry side of the business which Sally runs –  quality and longevity of the flowers being paramount.  Sally has replaced the popular aqua pack with vase arrangements due to the fact that many people leave the flowers in the same water and expect them to last.  Sally comments “if the flowers are in a vase people can more easily change the water.  This results in the flowers lasting longer, and they have the added value of having a vase once the flowers have finished”.  Sally also believes that the presentation of the flowers must be as good as the flowers themselves.  All the flower arrangements are presented in beautiful packaging, containers and bows.  This careful thought and attention to detail makes the customers feel they are getting added value at no extra cost.

Thirdly, they work hard to be environmentally friendly: –

A key trait in the world today.  The nursery also prides itself in being very environmentally conscious in all aspects of its operations.  Their main push at the moment is to replace all the pots used at the Nursery with Coir (coco peat).  The pots are sourced from a fair trade women’s co-operative in Sri Lanka and have many advantages – Not least as a naturally sourced product they are 100% biodegradable.  They provide an excellent environment for plants because they allow air, nutrients and water to reach the root surface of plants.  The structure of the pots are also ideal to allow the plant to hold onto the water and nutrients, releasing them to the plant over a prolonged period.  The pots excellent water capacity means that less water and natural feed are wasted.  Coir also contains a high level of Lignin, which provides a natural resistance to bacteria and disease all resulting in the growth of healthier plants and therefore, higher yields from their work in ‘hand rearing’ the plants.  So whilst they are environmentally friendly they also offer a whole range of benefits to growing stronger plants….

So we leave the Manfield clan throwing themselves into “another day at the office” – we never did hear their rendition of “We are family”.  We wish The Village Nursery a long and prosperous future and we are proud to be a supplier of this gem of a business.

Flower Pot Man indeed..

So on a very busy street in Shoreham by Sea Walter Smith’s Florist Shop proudly have their own Flower Pot Man – a four foot high character made from various sized terracotta flower pots, who welcomes customers to the shop.   And there’s plenty of people to admire the work,  being right by the railway station it’s great   for commuters  drivers and pedestrians alike – all of them  have to regularly wait for the level crossing  gates to lift.

Today, we are meeting Andi and Chris who took over the shop in December 2009.   We ask Andi and Chris why they chose this particular shop as their first joint venture “We were looking to take over, an ‘up and running’ business, ideally from someone who was retiring, where someone had loved the shop and the business, not one that was failing or unpopular,” Chris adds that he had spent quite a lot of time observing the footfall past the shop and also researching how long the level crossing gates were closed-would this be a bonus or a pitfall? From his vantage point from the pub opposite, having people mill about when the gates were closed was a distinct advantage.  During his research   he also got to know some of his potential customers at the same time!

Andi and Chris have already started to make the shop their own – not least their Flower Pot Man which has quickly become a local celebrity! This friendly addition to the flowers has caught the attention of many customers, and the shop now also sells smaller replicas – cult status already. As you enter the shop you can’t help notice Andi’s  Paper Mache sculptures around the walls alongside a very large Husqvarna Chain Saw – this is no ordinary flower shop!

And you get a distinct sense that these additions are just the start.   Chris has great plans for developing the shop’s forecourt, which in the past has just been used as a car parking space. It has the potential for adding an extra dimension to the shop, a new blind and possible planting areas could dramatically alter the whole look of the corner shop (who knows maybe Little Weed might make an appearance after all)

Andi has been in floristry for over twenty years since leaving college and has enjoyed working for other local florists. Chris has recently left his job as a manager for a wholesale green grocery business and has joined Andi in the shop. So Chris is obviously on a steep learning curve learning the floristry industry at the moment.

Andi and Chris appear to be a very close business team already, complementing each other’s skills – there’s even lots of laughter and the atmosphere in the shop is a light hearted , as well as very efficient. We ask them what it was like working as well as  living  together;  “I love it, it’s really great. I couldn’t have imagined that it would be so good” says Andi straight away. Chris then adds “I now have great respect for what Andi does. Her style is pretty much a one off, it’s quite different:  its traditional, but she also has her own vision, it’s nice because she’s having to teach me so much, It’ll obviously take me years to learn everything”   here  Andi interrupts  “floristry is something that takes years to learn….  and you never stop learning, I’m still learning, that’s what I enjoy about this profession:  you meet new people with different skills and you then learn from them” . Andi then adds  “it’s easy working with Chris”  because she can just be herself with him.  They can work and speak to each other without worry about professional conduct and niceties “I can be matter of fact with him and order him about” they both laugh at this.

Whilst the experience is all quite new we ask “What’s been the hardest aspect of owning your own business?”

While Andi thinks about this question Chris says straight away “I would say dealing with all the financial pressures every month. There’s no real security, It’s not knowing what’s coming through the door and if you’re going to meet your overheads every month”. We ask if they can ‘shut off’ from the business when they go home in the evenings, “most of the time” is the reply from both of them, although they both agreed that if there is an important order or event coming up they can’t help but  discuss it at home, because the business is still new and they want to do well.

Andi adds  ”when you’re working for someone else, you‘re not responsible for sourcing the flowers and stock, you’re not involved in quality control and prices, or the relationship that the shop has with the wholesalers and suppliers-it’s very different when it’s your business and your reputation and your good name that hinges on providing the best quality that you can-the dynamics change”.

Another aspect of the job they’re still learning is the preferences of their customer base: what people want from their local florist – at the moment every day can be very different. “Were willing at the moment to chop and change until we see what goes well, were not going to be set in our ways” says Chris. At this point Chris adds that building a good rapport with their customers is crucial, he says that giving a good service and that first impressions are key-that’s why developing the front of the shop is so important to them, people judge you by their first impression of the shop and its frontage displays.

So as new owners of a Florist what do they think the future holds for the high street florists?

Chris comments “Supermarkets will always sell bunched flowers, and the independent florists can’t compete with their prices.  ,But the key point is that  the Supermarkets  don’t offer the specialist skills that florists provide or  the personal touch that is required in truly inspirational  floral arrangements, funeral tributes and wedding work. “  Chris adds “we feel  that all the time there are florists on the high street, florists will continue to training and new blood will enter the market bringing new creativity and innovation –  florists still have a  lot to offer”.

Andi  also remarks that it is the personal touch that florists and other specialist retail shops provide that the Supermarkets can’t compete with, it is a strength to build on , “after all you can’t go into a large Supermarket and ask for a specific flower or bespoke arrangement and there is no one to ask for advice, or any privacy to discuss an order, for example a funeral tribute. ..If we didn’t feel we could offer more than a supermarket we wouldn’t have taken this opportunity to run our own business.”

Where will you be in five years time?

Chris starts “In five years time we hope people will have come to know us and Andi’s style. The shop will have come into its own, with Andi’s artistry, sculptures, floristry and personality being part of the whole package. We want to change the front of the shop to reflect Andi’s style, we’re already building on the good reputation that the shop has, people are coming back, were getting repeat sales : after all we want to be here for a long time.”

What keeps you sane?

The list is still long  “Chardonnay, Chardonnay, Kick Boxing, the children, running and horse riding, mountain biking. Oh and Beer and football”.  We wonder just how much time they will have in these early days of a budding business  – well there’s plenty of options when time is limited.

If you won the lottery what would you do, would you still keep the shop?

Andi is quick to respond “Oh yes, we’d still be here; we could do all things we want to do with the building and forecourt. We’d learn to relax more, have more quality time for our hobbies. We would employ someone so we could have a day off once week together – At the moment we can only take time off separately.”

Chris and Andi - keep smiling

So how is it  being together all the time at work and at home? “We don’t resent being at work  all the time, it’s taking a lot of everything, time,  effort and money!”  Andi goes on  ” Working together  isn’t an issue because it’s for both of us, were very focused, we both want it to work.”

Good luck or is it “Flobadobs” to Andi and Chris from all of us at Workbox Direct!

Planted - New frontage

This month we visit Planted to find out about their exciting shop move and the motivations which led Steve to commit to a major investment project in such tough times.  The Planted team are all the same, Floristry runs through their veins; they have a combined experience of over 35 years – something which has not occurred by chance! 

We believe Steve, and Neil reflect the approach and attitude which will see Floristry succeed for many years to come, so it was a great privilege to spend time with Steve and this is what we found…  

How long have you been in floristry?

Steve opens with a proud, beaming  smile “I’ve owned Planted for just over six years and before that I was freelancing for about 15 years: doing jobs mainly abroad and especially in Australia where I lived for three years.”  So immediately we find something we didn’t  know about Steve and we couldn’t resist digging a little more into the attitudes of the Aussies when it comes to floristry, Steve goes on “In Australia they really understand floristry; they spend good money on flowers, they appreciate that flowers cost money – finally a place in the world which has a real appreciation of a florists skill”, he goes on “ here, the British public do not understand the costs involved, for example they will come in and only want to spend fifteen pounds and expect to get a large bunch of flowers, which of course is impossible- you can’t create a big bouquet for only fifteen pounds. The florists provide a skill, creativity –if they want a cheap bunch of flowers they should go to somewhere that just sells bunched flowers, if they want something to be a creation with beauty, it needs skill, they should go to a florist.”  Here, here I hear you say!

So when we ask one of our provocative questions, “What do you think of the statement “Floristry is Art”?  there are no surprises with the answer…

“This is what some of the British public don’t understand!  They think they are just paying for the cost of the flowers, not the knowledge and skill of the florist. We spend time with our customers, talking through the brief, researching and resourcing the customer’s wishes and only then do we spend time completing the actual flower arrangement or display.  For some reason the great British public never wants to pays for that, or appreciates the time we have spent on each order”.

But do not get the impression Steve has given up on trying to educate the public in Brighton, indeed he has managed to create the Aussie attitude to florists amongst his customers.  Steve feels that his success is down to his approach to floristry and therefore his customers.  He talks passionately about spending a lot of time really getting to know the client, in order that every creation is unique and personal to that customer. His approach is like a painter, in the sense no picture is ever the same, neither is their work.  They try to ensure that ‘special’ arrangement every time; they have had some customers burst into tears when they see the completed work – satisfaction indeed!  Steve comments with a sense of pride  “It’s about respecting the client, understanding and relating to the person, finding out what they like, so you can then go away and create something just for them.”  In our mind this approach creates the perfect route to a Florists Masterpiece – bespoke, unique and beautiful!

Steve loves his work and his business and made the massive decision to move ‘across the road’ to a bigger premises, which after considerable vision and hard work became his blank canvass on which to create the shop of his dreams.  So last October and November had been incredibly busy months for the staff at Planted: this has meant Neil continuing the business as normal in St James’s Street whilst Steve oversaw building and renovation work at the new shop in Cavendish Street, just down the road. Steve showed off his project management skills by keeping to their predicted six week completion date, although as with all major projects this proved quite stressful!  Steve is very gracious to acknowledge the undying support of his team, friends and family: “ I couldn’t have done it without the involvement, support and help from Neil and my family as well, they were brilliant helping me to juggle both the shop and the renovations, Mum also gave me extra moral support and made sure I had a meal in the evenings”.

So Planted have ‘re-potted’ themselves in their new shop, purposely designed for them to ply their trade, so we wanted to know how it felt the first time he put the key in the door of his new shop…

“I can’t explain exactly, it was weird! Weird to be moving out of the old Planted on the Sunday and then to open in the new shop on the Monday. Although it was great to be leaving the other shop, it was sad as well, because it had been amazing, it was my beginning, it had been brilliant! Leaving our old shop was taking the gamble: would the regulars stay with you? It was scary, but you have to take calculated gambles if you want to progress – I thought our customers would find us – but it was scarrry!”

But if you look at the new shop and the customers purposely walking across the threshold the ‘gamble’ has worked.  It was a pleasure to see people’s reactions as they step into the world of Planted, Steve summarises “it’s been just fantastic, and it’s been just beautiful – Just beautiful: the reactions from everyone”.

And so having lived with their new surroundings has the ‘shine’ of the new toy warn off?

“We love this premises, the atmosphere of calmness, the openness, the space and light, means that everything is so much easier to do, initially we thought that we weren’t busy, but then we realized that the stress and tension had gone from working in a tiny shop, now there is peace, calm and tranquility, which it should be in a flower shop, it should be beautiful, the whole experience should be beautiful from the moment when you walk in the door: for both the customer and for us, it should be a lovely experience – in the old shop ,on a Saturday we used to slam the door behind us, because we couldn’t wait to get away, because we’d just had it. Whereas here, we close the door and look forward to coming back on Monday.”

So Planted is establishing its roots in new street with a stable, committed team and attitude towards Floristry to die for, so we thought we would get a few more opinions from Steve (whilst we had his attention)…

What advice would you give to someone starting out in this profession?

"Neuve" Space - cool!

Steve considers his response, “if it is about someone opening a shop, then your shop should reflect your creativity, it should set you aside from others.  Your window should look amazing and represent who you are, it’s very important, it’s a crucial selling point, we’ve now made it that you can see straight into the shop, so our whole shop is our ‘window’. I have to clean the windows virtually every day, but it’s all about first impressions!”

Steve goes onto say that the quality of the flowers is also crucial, “we buy the best we can buy, so when we send out flowers, we know they will last and the customer will be pleased with it.  The fact that our customers come back again and again speaks volumes. You have to be confident of quality of your flowers, if you’re not, you shouldn’t sell them- put it in the bin!   After all it’s your reputation at stake. The only reason were here, is because we have built up a good reputation and we sell a good product”.

And Steve’s thoughts on business don’t stop there…. he adds

“You need to think about the long term in this business, it’s about service, quality of service. I want to know who my customer is, we have real conversations with them, I’m interested in what they have to say, and that way we can give them a better service. There’s nothing more rewarding than when someone rings you up and says ‘Oh my god it was just amazing-thank you’.  Our experience shows that person will be a regular customer and will also tell their friends about you.” So there you have a business model built on the best possible foundations – recommendation!

Steve is also keen to add his opinion on the team you chose to help you in your business…

“You can’t run a business on your own, you need a right hand man, or woman, but you’ve got to find the right person, which is hard.  You need someone you can rely on, someone who can work under pressure, who you can trust financially with your business if you’re not there, and that their standard of work is good – you can’t compromise. After all your reputation is also in their hands. “

But Steve is under no dissolussion about where the buck stops – with the owner.  When he talks about running his shop he describes the need for characteristics such as being brave, silly and passionate – we can see what he means he finishes “You have to have the desire and passion: that’s what made me do it. And a total love for flowers and creating something beautiful”.

And what about the future, well we asked Steve “How do you think florists will flourish in the next 5 years?”

There is a common theme in his response “I think it’s going to very hard for florists to flourish in the next 5 years – it’s going to be a time to batten down the hatches, be careful and conscious about everything you do and buy.  Critically standards mustn’t slip!”  He goes on “I’m worried that a lot of florists will stop buying the unusual or exotic flowers and plants…. and then the suppliers and growers will stop producing them and then the range of flowers will go back to the basic varieties”.  We agree with Steve, the thought of not having unusual and different varieties of flowers and plants is depressing. Let’s hope there is a niche of the British public that continue to demand and appreciate the beauty of these unusual species. 

And in the midst of all this activity over the last few months we are intrigued to know what keeps Steve sane…

“My dog, when it gets too much we go out and walk and walk……..”

The time at Planted has flown; it’s been insightful and thoroughly engaging.  We have met a business owner who is focused, committed and prepared to risk his future on Floristry – something which Steve realizes was not always there in the early days.  Steve “went where the wind took” him and relished a fantastic life traveling and doing a variety of jobs, but at 38 he decided he wanted his own business, he was ready to “settle down and give it 110 %”.  Today we see a man giving 110% to his business!

We wish Planted the wildest success in their new shop….go for it!

Tina, "Little Miss Pink" at work

Kemptown Flowers is in its infancy, just 4 months old!  The new arrival is refreshing and real evidence that recession can be the catalyst for inspiration!  Kemptown is an area of Hove and Brighton which is a busy ‘village’ close enough to the sea to hear the gulls, but not quite close enough to smell the salt! 

Today we meet Tina Croucher, the charismatic owner of Kemptown Flowers, who stands proudly in her shop adorned in a very dapper pink outfit – the colour which seems to be at the heart of her very sole and everything she does.  If colours were ever used to describe people, Tina is definitely a “Pink” person.  She personifies the energy, vibrancy and the overt nature of the colour – she is simply charming.  So it is with great ease we chat about floristry in general, the decision to start her business, the challenges she has faced so far and what the future holds.

So we open with a question which we could guess the answer to, a “starter for 10”..

Q: Starting a business is a recession might be described as insightful or folly, what would you say ?

The answer we get is full and considered, Tina starts  “ My husband and I have been in business for years now, indeed, Andrew started his business in the last recession – so we know what to expect”.   It is clear that both Andrew and Tina are no strangers to hard work and have committed themselves to their business’s 24/7, they have succeeded in building a good reputation among their local community, something they consider a cornerstone for the success of the Florist business. 

Starting in the recession has framed Tina in her attitude “I know people will always want to buy flowers for special occasions [but] I try to buy very wisely to find something different, little gimmicks or one off items, things which are value for money” she pauses a moment “I do give them [her customers] something unique which is simply good value for money”.

We probe a little more on the process of starting the business

Q: What is the background to starting the florist business?

Tina responds “I’ve always been a creative person – for years I been doing favours making arrangements and table decorations for weddings with my good friend Paula”.  So when space became available in a corner of the premises of their existing business, it was a “slam dunk” – Tina wanted to open a florists!

However, don’t take away the impression this is a dark dank corner of a shop, the spot is a corner plot with both sides made up of floor to ceiling glass panels.  As with most premises it has attributes and weaknesses – great for display, tough on the flowers!  With Tina the premises only provide opportunity to display colour and  it provides a stage for her work as the local community wander about their daily life.

The shop has the “wow” factor, so we are intrigued on Tina’s take on her style

Q: How would you describe your style of floristy

“Colourful, if you’ve got a florist shop you’ve got to stand out from the rest”.  When she started her business she made a decision that her shop would be noticed and the use of the rainbow of colours in her shop’s sign shows she has done what she said she would.  She comments that she didn’t want to have dark colours or become a ‘classically dark style’ florist – spending time with Tina, you can see why – her character would simply clash with such styling. 

Interestingly, the colours are synonymous with the Pride colours which are seen frequently in this part of the country, but she coyly comments “that it wasn’t a conscious decision” but she does smile wryly  and admits she is “quite happy” that it could be seen that way.

Q: What things are important to you in your business? 

She responds by talking about her standing in the local community “ I have regular customers who want to support me”.  The importance of the local theme continues as she explains how she tries to support fellow traders, buying fresh flowers from a local grower; and plants from a source in Sussex.  

Tina also picks up on one of her traits which is key to her business “I’m open minded, I take anything and everything on board-especially new ideas.   I’ll then play around with them myself and then develop my own design from that.” 

She listens hard to her customers as well, which leads us down an unexpected track – a discussion on being Eco-friendly in business.  Tina acknowledges this is starting to influence her buying decisions  “ over half my customers are now asking for paper and tissue wrapping in preference to cellophane, in a bid to be eco friendly”.  This presents her with a challenge which she relishes – still providing stunning, pretty and attractive packaging to help differentiate her offering, she adds “we need the manufacturers to move into the 21^st century when it comes to Eco-friendly packaging”.

Tina is focused on developing her business and using business ‘lingo’ she is implementing a clearly defined strategy which differentiates her business and the service it offers, but what about the future of the industry….  

Q: How do you think Florists will “bloom”?

She sits pensively when pushed on the subject of supermarkets “I am worried about the supermarkets, but there are customers who want the individual, personal touch from a professional – you can’t get that from a supermarket”. She then goes on to add that she believes that people will always need their local shops and the community they help create: “I have customers who deliberately buy from me, not a supermarket, so I won’t disappear!” she goes on “her clients feel valued as a person, not just as a customer, sometimes I’m more like the local community centre!”

Having had 4 months at the sharp end we are keen to have her views on others starting out in Floristry…

Q: What advice would you give to those starting out in Floristry?

 “You have to be mad!” she laughs playfully, she goes on “it is good fun, but very, very hard work, it’s not as pretty as people think it is”. Tina pauses and the adds “Florists work bloody hard – I take my hat off to people that have been doing it for years” After a momentary pause Tina then adds that she now feels it’s time for her to take on a part time assistant: “I’m not currently as creative as I want to be, I’m so tired, I need to have the energy to be more creative” – a very real balance which needs to be achieved for all starting out in this industry.

To get Tina back onto her fun side we ask a few quick fire questions to finish on a high…

Q: Is Floristry art?

Tina is quick to reply “Yes it is – it’s not just about selling flowers, floristry is changing all the time” She adds that each item leaving a shop is a statement about her, her shop and her creativity.  Even simple off the shelf plants never leave without her touch she replants them, “presents” them – everything has her stamp, “the Kemptown Flowers Brand”

She goes on “florists are creative every day, it is a blank canvass every time you do some work, you can do what you want to do!”  She adds that it’s so very rewarding when customers compliment her designs “I feel a real sense of achievement, a REAL sense of achievement – I’ve created something beautiful from just a block of oasis, a basket or a vase, that’s what makes it special”.  

Q: If you had an Aladdin’s lamp, what 3 things would you ask your genie for? 

Ironically, Tina then becomes quite serious and thoughtful, after a brief pause she says “Healthy” and then she adds “this is a hard choice, but I think it has to be Happy, just two will do!”

Q: What did you want to be when you were growing up? 

Straight away she laughs and says “A shop assistant, of course.  The florist shop makes me happy, when I stand and look at the flowers they make me smile!”

So we have to say goodbye to “Little Miss Pink”, we thank Tina for the massive injection of optimism and her infectious energy.   We wish her the very best of luck and genuinely hope her humble nature and hard work ethic see her established for many years to come!