Our belief is that sustainable and beautiful floristry is found at the heart of the season. We have aligned ourselves with like minded, organic growers to ensure that we know the story and impact of every bloom we select while still delivering large scale, luxury designs.
When transforming spaces with natural products, it can be hard to think of flowers as problematic.
What is one of the biggest challenges facing luxury florals? We need to look at the carbon footprint created by the rapidly growing industry. To fulfil the need for beautiful blooms year round, growing centres have been created in countries with ideal climates such as Ecuador, Kenya and Columbia. How can flowers grown in these countries reach our events and still look beautiful? Whole routes have been created for refrigerated vehicles to cross thousands of miles over land and sea.
The transportation of flowers is not the only culprit of adding to the carbon footprint. Monoculture planting and excessive fertilizer plays a key role in depleting soil health. While looking at farming practices, there must also be consideration for the people harvesting these flowers that they are able to do so safely and in fair working conditions.
Imported stems are exposed to chemicals at every part of their life cycle. The pesticides in particular can have a severe negative impact on local pollinators and workers harvesting the flowers. Before being imported, some flowers are required to go through a fumigation process to ensure they do not bring any unwanted pests of diseases that may damage our delicate ecosystems.
How are we tackling these issues?
One of our biggest triumphs is to say we will never use floral foam. This green foam, first used in the 1960s, is used in big floral installations and acts as a water source for the flowers. Not only will it never fully break down in landfill, it is also made of chemicals like formaldehyde, carbon black and barium sulfate, all of which can cause skin irritations and respiratory issues. Preparation of floral foam for daily use introduces these chemicals and microplastics into our water and becomes harmful to our ecosystems. Instead of resorting to using this foam, we will build our large structures from branches and reusable frames to create beautiful shapes to adorn with our local organic blooms.
How can we reduce our carbon footprint from imported blooms? we have committed to learn where our flowers are coming from and continue to build relationships with local biodynamic and organic growers to always have beautiful British blooms available.
There is excitement and joy to be found in the anticipation of seasonal blooms to come. Your designs will be full of life and beautiful scent when your flowers haven’t travelled thousands of miles wrapped tightly in plastic and are arranged with expertise by a team who have spent years specializing in large scale, impactful and sustainable floristry.
