Florist News

Yes fly2hi I agree with what you are saying when I was at college we had a class of 20 each one had same flowers foliage etc we were making an arrangement for a function all 20 were totally different and our tutor told us we had all DESIGNED a suitable item for the function but all were different showing how individual we all were you try making 10 items for a wedding or function and I will guarantee no 2 will be exactly the same they may look similar but if you look close they will all be different. A DESIGNER is someone who can take something and design/make a product all be it flowers/clothes/jewellery whatever I have discussed this with a very good friend who is a DESIGNER/TUDOR/DEMONSTRATOR working with Smithers Oasis/Teleflower/Flower Council of Holland during his career and this is also his take on the term.

Hi are you doing your IVA I have have just done this and I had the same question, look at it in to parts What makes a designer florist as one part and then Who benifits

I think it is subjective,
I put things like doing work for the right person and being in the right place at the right time, look at Jane paker her vans are sleek and her packageing is also sleek, she pushers the boundaries of design to thir limits. She puts her work out there!
And must had the money to start with!
I hope this is of some help the IVA is a pain I no put keep going and by the way you still have the business unit to do

i would like to consider myself both florist and floral designer, but i also think it depends on what area you are in, whether people will appreciate a floral designer, in our area alot is just walk-in mixed hand-tieds, so we have to use the florist element there, but if someone comes in for a wedding, then i am a floral designer, i find that people want thier wedding flowers designed as opposed to a funeral piece where most people just want to order quickly and simply, if you are designing things all day every day, then i suppose you are a floral designer, i think you have to judge carefully what the customer wants, i would never tell an 80 yr old lady who comes in for her spray cars that i was a floral designer, i dont think she would appreciate it, i pride myself on the fact that i am both florist and floral designer

Very well put I think we all should fall into that category we all at times make something that isn't your normal everyday floristry this is where the ability to design comes in. I did a short course on wire work and now sell a lot of wired headpieces with feather beads etc for brides/bridesmaids/mother of the bride/groom and guests this week alone I have done 7 and 3 orders for next week and are the only florist in the area doing these geat for the quiet period so we pride ourselves as designers of floristry and headdresses/fascinators
Rach

Hi all,
What a great debate - well I've made my mind up and the signs are ordered, I do design and I am a florist so the tag 'designer florist' is the one for me. If people think thats pretentious well so be it, in the words of somebody famous (think it was Popeye) I am's what I am!!

Happy designing flower designs ...................

Breezy

Well Done Breezy what colour are you going for post a picture when you have it done a fellow florist has had a new van 2 months ago white black writing and cerise gerbera looks really well and has already generated a lot of business for her so many have come into her shop as customers as a result of seeing her van she has only opened 15 months and already has 27 weddings for 2007 10 booked since xmas so she is convinced the outlay for the van has started to pay of already hope you have as good a response. Rach

Thanks Rach,
Have got a white van and the graphics are all black. My son designed my logo so is very excited about seeing it racing round town, will try to attach picture for you to see when I get one. Have decided to park it in the local supermarkets car park when we are quiet and out in the street when possible (we normally have to park behind the shop!). Hope it works as well as your friends, need to generate the extra income to pay for it!! Am going for a re-launch 24th Feb so any tips for getting the punters in are very welcome, will do the usual press release etc but could do with something a bit different aswell.

Cheers
Breezy

Hi Breezy yes when we had our offical opening we got together with the McMillan Nurses and suggested doing offical opening with coffee morning in aid of McMillan Nurses giving a percentage of sales we had a very big crowd and coffe morning lasted all day if you can find a charity which the locals support very well ie cancer/ hospice/ childrens/ charity and all the staff and their families gave donations we did raise a nice sum for a good cause and got ourselves a lot of customers we also invited a lot of big businesses not all attended but those who were not available gave generous donations had a few flyers which the owners grandchildren delivered to the big businesses after we had telephoned explaining what we were doing and of course a big splash in the following weeks local paper ref the opening coffe morning and how much we raised that may be an idea to bring people in, and make some money for a worthwhile cause as well. Rach