Q&A thursday: melanie stapleton of cecilia fox

how/why you got into the flowers

when i was 16 i was excruciatingly shy and i hated school. my mum made me go in and ask the local florist if they had any part time jobs over the holidays. this was huge for me as it took me a while to get up the courage, my mum waited at the door to make sure i did it. they didn't employ part time workers but they were looking for an apprentice...someone to wash buckets and make coffee, sweep the floor that kind of thing. so i did and loved it and i've never looked back.

on your current playlist

i'm a bit of a mega nerd and listen to a lot of radio...love the sound of people talking and it makes me feel smarter. it would be rude of me not to mention that the new architecture in helsinki album is a hit i would listen to it all the time if i was allowed.

savoury or sweet?

totally savoury

best ever flower (for this week at least)

this week...well...lamenting the end of the violets and anticipating the start of our local lily of the valley.

tipple?

violet liqueur in champagne (for special occasions) or pennyweights gamay (a bio dynamic vineyard up state from us) snob...maybe

your most unappealing habit

staring at people, i can't help it i could people watch all day.

couldn't live without

my garden. nothing makes me happier than cooking stuff we grew in our little back yard.

favourite website(s)

web sites get so stale so quick don't they. i have the attention span of a flea. i read the saipua blog it makes me laugh and helps me feel like i'm not the only one in the world feeling like i do.

what makes your heart sing

i'm incredibly lucky to be surrounded by so many talented creatives...every time i hear one of them play or sing or dance.

tell me a secret

i love british murder mysteries...we don't have a tv but when j is away i stream midsomer murders on my computer in bed.

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cecilia fox is in melbourne

beware of the killer plants

new venues and a half-job photographer

i really thought 2011 was a wrap with only a handful to go but the bookings are still trickling in. for this year. got to love a last minute bride. come all, come merrily!

the little flower studio out back is coming along a treat. wasted the best part of two hours yesterday looking on ebay for flowery plates for it to hang on the wall. all i can say is it takes years to develop time management skills as finely honed as this.

next week i'm working at a venue that is literally being built, hopefully certainly being finished as we speak. it's a stately home renovation by the sea near alnwick. the interior designer on the job is the bride getting married. no pressure then. i'm also working at the venue with the treehouse, the one all the photographers and wedding blogs love, you know the one.

will try and take photos this time as i've failed miserably at the last few weddings i've done. have yourself a good weekend. over and out.

Q&A thursday: megan gray of honey and poppies

how/why you got into the flowers

i can assure you that it was not by choice. my parents opened a flower shop when i was a toddler, so i grew up in the business - spending endless hours waiting around while they worked and being dragged on deliveries and to wedding setups. i was helping out with head crowns and cake set setups by the time i was 7 and even making little dried arrangements to sell (please forgive me for the drieds...it was the 80's) by the time i was 8. i was taking the bus in for regular after school work shifts by the time i was 14. it's not illegal (or so they told me).

i had a rebellious teenage phrase where i worked in a party supply store with my best friend. we dressed in a way that would never be tolerated in my parent's store, smoked in the parking lot while pretending to be gathering shopping carts, and purposely snapped the heads of hideous chalk angel statues when the management was too abusive. but then i quit and went back to the flowers.

i went away to college and studied anthropology. i graduated from a prestigious university fully intending to be a brilliant and witty cultural studies writer and never touch a flower again but six months after graduating i went back to the flowers.

i worked with my dad for the next 8 years, running the shop and getting increasingly frustrated and burned out. when the shop closed it's storefront in 2009, i took it as an opportunity to escape. i planned on concentrating on my fledgling stationery business and leaving flowers behind. six months later i started honey and poppies. i've come to see flowers not as a choice. those bastards own me, body and soul. like an abusive boyfriend i keep going back to. i just love them. i do, i do, i do.

on your current playlist

jonathan richman, t. rex, donovan, times new viking, jay reatard and in the car nothing but kday (old school rap station).

savoury or sweet?

both please.

best ever flower (for this week at least)

oh my. if i only have to commit to the week then it's dahlias.

tipple?

me + vodka = b.f.f.  lately vanilla vodka mixed with root beer.

your most unappealing habit

right now i'm feeling that it may be taking a simple question and using it as a platform to write a full biography (see #1, feeling guilty about the length of my response). also if a single thing goes wrong at a wedding, i will mope around the house for days, whining to my husband that i'm a fraud and worthless. it's pretty disgusting. but vodka and root beer help.

couldn't live without

flowers, duh (see #1). also books, museums, video games, drawing, my cat, my husband, and obscenely large amounts of coffee

favourite website(s)

i subscribe to many flower blogs, and the first thing i do in the morning is usually check my reader to see which of my flowery friends have new posts.

what makes your heart sing

um...flowers...did you miss that? above? also art and design. things that are pretty to look at. things that smell good. things that taste good. and the odd baby animal photo.

tell me a secret

i have a horribly dark sense of humour, a wicked potty mouth, and i'm something of a heathen.

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honey and poppies is in long beach, california. go here for megan's bright and beautiful blog. 

Q&A thursday: fatima of flowers by bornay

how/why you got into the flowers

i was studying fine arts in the university of barcelona and one day i went to help a friend work in a flower shop. that was my first contact with flowers...i worked in a few others but when i met joan and began working at bornay studio, then i was able to see the flower world as an art...mixing them with fabrics, having inspirations from painting, fashion, other worlds...it's a pleasure working with him and with marta.

on your current playlist

i love 30's swing...andrew sisters, ihasa, elvis presley, frida hyvonen

savoury or sweet?

sweet please! and with a coffee milk, perfect.

best ever flower (for this week at least)

i'm rediscovering carnations and their impressive never before seen colours. make-up colour, toasted, old fashioned degraded texture colour...

tipple?

a fine spanish wine with good company ;) and also a mojito with my friend and part of bornay marta, after a long hard day of weddings.

your most unappealing habit

i'm very stubborn, sometimes...

couldn't live without

art and friends

favourite website(s)

one i recently found, plenty of colour, fantastic and amazing

what makes your heart sing

love

tell me a secret

i like to make nostalgic collages during the night with old photographs when i'm inspired...

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flowers by bornay is in barcelona. go here for the blog and here for their beautiful new tumblr.

con the don

it blows my mind how ahead of her time she was. click on the image for a 
gem of a clip on constance spry.

a brave new world

this week i feel like i've come hurtling into the 21st century. gentle reader, we finally have central heating! this is making me so happy i can hardly stand it. i know most normal people have had this for about a hundred years or more but waking up to a warm house is a luxury i will never again take for granted.

the other leap forward is the acquisition of a tomtom. a few weeks ago i was working in edinburgh, it was a tight set-up timing wise and i had to navigate through a city i really don't know very well to three different locations. i got lost. there was swearing (but thankfully driving a black cab in a city means that you can pull off a few last minute 360's without raising too much suspicion). everything was where it needed to be in plenty of time, but still, it wasn't exactly great for the blood pressure. i have no idea why it's never occured to me before now to get a sat nav, not having one is practically like admitting you've never visited the world wide web. anyway, i've got one now so no more getting lost for me, suckas! from now on in we're running an even tighter ship around here.

Q&A thursday: sarah winward from honey of a thousand flowers

how/why you got into the flowers

when i was five i said i wanted to be a florist, but didn't everybody when they were five? i didn't plan on doing flowers, i had studied something completely different and not artistic in school and was planning on going in that direction. friends asked me to help them with their flowers, then their friends and their friends, and here i am.

on your current playlist

mohammed abdel wahab. it is monotonous classic arab music that drives most people nuts, me too sometimes. but i am hooked right now. while working i like cheesy pop music. i've found that the "girl talk" station on pandora is about as tacky and poppy as they come, and that is what i need most wedding days.

savoury or sweet?

sweet. but i usually make my husband david order savoury so i can have both.

best ever flower (for this week at least)

as a florist you should know that you can't ask florists this question. but right now? indian paint brush.

tipple?

nope.

your most unappealing habit

eating really disgusting food while i'm working like snack pack puddings and cookies with frosting an inch thick. or standing up too fast when i get out of bed, i almost pass out at the same spot in my hallway every morning.

couldn't live without

my spaces. i am a person that needs a living environment that i feel comfortable and positive in. also - david, the outdoors, NPR, and time to do all the things i like to do.

favourite website(s)

i make the rounds every morning to a few wedding websites and floral blogs, but only for a few minutes. i don't spend too much time out there in the vast www, there is plenty of knowledge and inspiration to be found outside of it.

what makes your heart sing

lying on the ground outside.

tell me a secret

when i'm working in the early morning by myself i like to think of really great (or painfully terrible) flower puns. i try to think of situations where i can use them casually when setting up weddings, haven't built up the courage yet though. things like "don't worry, everything will be bouquet".

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honey of a thousand flowers is in salt lake city, utah. sarah's beautiful blog is here.

rosemary scanlon

digital wallpapers by glasgow school of art graduate rosemary scanlon.