I'm fascinated by flowers. They have such a rich cultural tradition of connecting people and marking our key life events. We buy and give flowers to say thank you, congratulations, I'm sorry, or I love you, and we invest in spectacular arrangements to mark weddings, funerals and other major life milestones. Creatively, we know that food has this almost magical ability to bring people together, and I've worked on many events that use food and eating together to build community, start conversations, and make people feel at home. I'm fascinated by the potential that flowers have to do something similar - to mark occasions, to create a sense of celebration, and to build networks of connection between people.
Earlier this year, I blogged about joining Applied Arts Scotland with a goal of making more time for my own creativity in amongst the pattern of freelance life. A few years ago I took a floristry evening course at Forth Valley College, and since then have loved playing around with arrangements for birthdays, funerals, naming days and thank yous.
I'm especially loving growing and foraging my own materials, and with the benefit of more garden available to play with in our new home, I'm hoping to nurture more and more of a cutting garden to work with. Meanwhile, I'm finding lots of inspiration in seasonal greenery, especially herbs, blossom, grasses and ivy.
May 2024 saw the next step in this journey, when I hosted a pop-up flower stall for three days over Mother's Day weekend. Making and selling 71 spring posies, using over 700 stems of flowers and foliage, it was certainly a step up! I was delighted with the feedback and take-up, and was able to donate £241 from the proceeds to Diabetes UK.
I'm now developing my skills with an online course led by the incredible florist Simon Lycett, with some exciting next steps lined up:
I've been awarded a grant from The Humanist Society of Scotland, to make and distribute 50 mini bouquets to celebrate World Humanist Day this June. Each bouquet will be labelled with details of a campaigner who's fought for the rights we enjoy today: you can read more about this project - and nominate your (s)heroes for celebration and remembrance - here.
I'll be part of the programme at the 2024 Porty Pride, where a series of bouquets celebrating Pride will be tucked away across Portobello for people to find and re-home. The Porty Pride programme will be published, in due course, here.
I created some floral fashion models - 're-clothing' vintage dressmaking patterns with leaves, petals and natural materials - for Coin Operated Press's 'sustainable fashion' issue (photos below).
Meanwhile, here are a few photos of recent creations; may there by many more!
Floral fashion
'Re-clothing' vintage dressmaking patterns with leaves, petals and natural materials, created for Coin Operated Press's 'sustainable fashion' issue. The beautiful natural materials echo the cut and drape of tailoring, and encouraged me to muse on the connections between fashion, nature and the environment.