Kristen Somerville

Winner – Excellence in Sustainability, Taupo Business Awards

Sustainable Floristry

It was a nervous wait sitting at the table, before hearing our name called out as winners of the Excellence in Sustainability category at this year’s Great Lake Taupo Business Awards.
Sustainability is at the core of everything we do here, from the way we make our bouquets – local and seasonal flowers where possible and only ever 100% NZ grown flora – so it’s nice to be finally recognised for it.
I like to think Sustainability is about more than just separating our rubbish and recycling, it means caring about the footprint our work has once it leaves the shop, caring about the people we work with from our growers, to our staff and customers and caring about the kind of service that we provide and the example that we set.

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Spring School Holiday Activities

School Holidays

We know how fun it is to play with flowers because we get to do it everyday so we thought we’d give kids the opportunity to come in with their parents during the school holidays and make a little fresh flower jar posy. Each jar is $15 to make (or two for $25) and we’ll have a little area set aside for kids to choose their jar, their bundle of flowers and their foliage, then spend time arranging them. Our local growers are starting to produce some beautiful spring flowers now so it’s a great way to be able to support them.
The other two activities are making a potions jar with dried petals and leaves and making a wand, both $5 each. We’ll run the activities as drop in sessions while the shop’s open 9.30am-4.30pm weekdays and 10am-1pm on Saturdays with children to be accompanied by their parents. No bookings necessary. Covered footwear is essential though (no jandals or barefeet).

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How we’re saying thank you…

Uncategorized

It’s been so humbling to have so many familiar faces shopping with us regularly, especially since we’ve been in our new Oruanui Street location over a year now, that we wanted a way to reward everyone. So we thought it was about time to create a loyalty card for those who shop in store with us. How it works is that for every purchase over $49 you get a stamp, on your fourth purchase we’ll give you a free 150gm candle, and then on your eigth purchase we’ll give you a free seasonal posy.

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Reaching out to others in the sustainable space

Sustainable Floristry

It can be lonely trying to walk the sustainable path, when many of your competitors take the easy route and not everyone understands the reasoning behind what you’re doing.

But on the plus side, being sustainable gives you focus, and for us it’s our ‘why’ in the depths of winter and a cost of living crisis that makes you question everything.

So we love teaming up with other businesses in the sustainable space, because at it’s heart sustainability is about caring.

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My creative process…

Floristry Tips, Flower Tutorials, Sustainable Floristry

I’m often asked do you have a vision in mind before making something. The answer is yes… and no. Yes I have an idea of what I think might look good or what colours I want to use but never much more than that. I find that when I do have a specific idea that’s when I get into trouble because you need to be open to where a design is going to lead you, rather than where you want it to go. And sometimes it’s just about keeping going and trusting that it’s going to turn out ok.

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Mother’s Day Update 2023

Sustainable Floristry

Since 2020 it seems like there is no such thing as a normal Mother’s Day. Fortunately there are no lockdowns this year to contend with or contactless pick ups, but what has given everyone in this industry the most trouble is the weather. Not only have we had cyclones and flooding but the fact that there has been so much rain has meant the summer flower season is that much shorter than usual.

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Summer cut flower tips…

Floristry Tips, Sustainable Floristry, Thoughts

This week in your bouquet you might find some of the following: dahlia, gladioli, calla lilies,
scabiosa, strawflowers, matricaria
daisies and hydrangea. Summer flowers while lovely are generally speaking more delicate and not as long lasting as Autumn/ Winter flowers.  This means that instead of a vase life of 7 days plus, summer cut flowers are more likely to last up to 5 days.  Keep reading for some cut flower care tips.

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Embracing the ordinary beauty of our work…

Floristry Tips, Thoughts, Uncategorized

If there’s one thing we do too much of in our studio it’s apologise. We brush past someone and apologise, borrow the clippers and apologise, it got so bad that when customers complimented me on my business I’d find myself downplaying the compliment instead of just accepting it. So this year we’re not doing that. This year we need to rise up because what makes this business special in all its imperfections is what will help us stand out and get through 2023.

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