Today, as part of my Florist Friday blog post series, I’m delighted to feature an interview with Nik Southern of Grace & Thorn.
I had the pleasure of meeting Nik for the first time earlier this year, when Duncan from McQueens and I were filming the ‘Behind Every Great Florist’ video for New Covent Garden Flower Market.
Could you tell us what prompted you to become a florist?
13 years of IT recruitment prompted me for sure! I’ve always had a love of gardening and nature. And after becoming despondent with corporate life, I enrolled onto a 4 week floristry career course. I knew on Day 1 of the course that I had finally found IT… something I loved so much and that I wanted to turn into a career.
Could you tell us how your floristry career has progressed?
I started from my living room. I had a Smart car and the lads at the Flower Market found it hilarious. They’d say: “Let us help you to your van…” After really thoroughly annoying my flat mates by filling up the flat with Dutch buckets, wreaths and jam jars, I started to look for a little studio and found one on Kingsland Road, which after a year I outgrew it. They loved having all those flowers and plants around I used to tell myself…. didn’t they?!
When did you start your business and where are you based?
I started my business in 2011, 7 months after my course. I actually went back to recruitment for a bit as I bottled it! But then my mate gave me a job doing press day flowers for her and I never looked back! We have two shops one in Hackney and one in Soho in London, and a large studio in Essex.
What kind of floristry services do you offer?
We offer flower and plant design for events and weddings, plus plant and pot hire.
Where do you get inspiration for your floral designs?
Nature is my main inspiration.
How would you describe your style?
Offbeat, naturalistic, allowing the flowers to dance and sing! We love playing with colour and texture and lots of foliage.
Could you tell us about your workshops?
I wanted to make our workshops accessible, fun and varied, encouraging people to see what we do and then do it their way!
What are your plans for 2016?
Holiday, at some point?!
What is your favourite flower?
Guelder rose.
JUNGLE IS MASSIVE
I thought you may also like to see some amazing botanical designs, which Nik and her team created last month. They took over the Town Hall Hotel‘s famous Council Chamber with their ‘Jungle meets English Country Garden’ installation, in homage to this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. You can read more about it here. Plus here’s a timelapse video showing it being constructed.
Thank you so much to Nik for all her help in compiling today’s blog post. If you’d like to see more of her wonderful floral designs, do pop over to the Grace & Thorn website. Social media wise, you’ll find Grace & Thorn on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.
(Images : Nik Southern | Grace & Thorn)
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