February Feature Interview - Neill Strain

We delve straight in to our Best of British floral celebrations with an interview with London based designer Neill Strain.

 

 

 

Neill inspires his London clients with contemporary, haute couture floral designs from his beautiful Belgravia boutique. 

 

" A Dramatic Bouquet - Fiery Colours - Sensual and Wild "

 

 

I had the pleasure of working for Neill as a Junior Florist and Hostess whilst I was studying for my BA degree in Professional Floristry. It was a wonderful experience for a training florist. 

 

 
 

 

Neill is renown for creating sensational displays outside the store from a full scale Poinsettia Star for International Poinsettia Day to a sky scraping Love heart for Valentines.

 



 





So with one of the prominent days in floral calendar fast approaching, and with just little over a week until the Neill Strain team unveil another of their glorious displays for Valentines, Neill kindly took a few moments from his hectic schedule to tell Wannabe Florist how romance should be done.

 

 

 

1. What trends do you predict for Valentines Day 2014? . . . The classic red collection or will your clients be looking for a more unusual colour palette? What will Neill Strain Floral Couture be promoting?

For our own clientele in Belgravia, we are predicting that they will continue to want the super premium, long stemmed (80 cm) Red Naomi red Rose to which they have become accustomed to over the past 6 years since we’ve been in business, or alternatively beautiful mixed bouquets including some Red Roses but also a wider colour palette of passionate pinks, reds and purples, including flowers such as Eustoma, Spray Roses, Tulips, and other seasonal flowers.

Our bouquets are luxuriously packaged in our own black square bags (with our logo) and the flowers protrude sometimes up to 1 metre tall!

Note our Red Naomi roses, and many of our other flowers, are carefully selected and picked especially for us, and sent to our boutique on the same day, so the flowers arrive extremely fresh. I am told the Red Naomi Rose has a vase life of 3 weeks!

At Neill Strain Floral Couture, we also offer our clients the possibility of home styling - tailor-made bouquets designed especially to enhance their interiors.  For Valentines Day we can decorate our clients’ homes in pure floral romance, from the front hall through the living room, and the bedroom to the bathroom!

 

" Luxuriously Packaged . . . . . Passionate pinks, reds and purples"

 

 

2. If you could design the ultimate Valentines Bouquet for yourself, no expense spared, what would you love to receive?

 

 

A dramatic Bouquet of Roses, Phaleanopsis Orchids and Gloriosa, in fiery colours of reds, oranges and hot cerise pinks. Sensual and wild.

 

 

 

3. Valentines Bouquet or Arrangement and why? As a retailer do you think its important to offer your clients a choice at Valentines or just to stick to one product line?

 

 

I think it’s all about the choice for the client. So we offer lots of variety.

 

 

 

 

4. What is your favourite part of the Valentines Celebrations?

 

Relaxing when it’s all over and getting the feedback from all our happy clients!

 

 

 

 

 



BEST OF BRITISH FLORAL DESIGN

A belated Happy New Year to one and all! I hope you are well rested and well prepared for the Valentines rush.

 A new year brings much excitement for Wannabe Florist! The blog will be going through a metamorphosis, so keep your eyes peeled. Whilst Wannabe Florist is having a facelift please bear with me as posts and updates maybe a little sporadic!

So to kick start 2014 Wannabe Florist will be championing 'Best Of British'! Even up to last week, media reports were being released about high street retailer, Marks and Spencer, offering an online Wedding Flower Collection! The floristry industry can be a challenging sector to work in without the ever increasing encroachment on our industry.  So, with this in mind, we, as an industry need to start celebrating what we do best, rather than allowing a heightening sense of despondency to overtake. We commence by showcasing the best of British floral designers. Over the forth coming year Wannabe Florist will be filling your screens with interviews from some our home grown UK talents. 


Our February Feature Designer is none other than the wonderfully talented Mr Neill Strain of the Flower Lounge, Belgravia, London.

Revisiting The Lonely Bouquet

With Christmas fast approaching I thought it would be nice to reflect upon the year as it draws to a close, and revisit this summers international first for the floral industry - the arrival of  'The Lonely Bouquet' event.

Wannabe Florist took part in July and supplied three lucky Cambridge residents & visitors with a lonely bouquet.  I have caught up with one of the recipients to get a greater insight to how the event has reached out to the general public.


 

 

Name, Age & Occupation

 

Elizabeth Stella Maria (Mellen) age 54, occupation Primary School Teacher

 Are you a Cambridge resident or visiting? If visiting what was your purpose of your visit?
 

I am a resident of Hackney and was visiting Cambridge for a weekend reunion at my old college, Trinity Hall, of my matriculation year, 1977.

Where did you find the Lonely Bouquet? What/who drew your attention to it?
 

I found the lonely bouquet in the alcove of the Caius College clock, in Senate House Passage. It was drenched in sunlight and immediately caught my attention.  

What were your immediate reaction/ initial thoughts?
 

My first thought was that it was placed there as a shrine or memorial to someone possibly recently dead, and so the immediate delight was tempered with apprehension as I peered at the label.

I was with a friend and she said, 'It's for you!' and then pointed out that we were being watched.
(Elizabeth was being watched by myself and my camera crew from a secluded spot, so that we could watch and capture the publics' genuine initial reaction first hand for the video documentary. )

 

Had you heard about the Lonely Bouquet project before you found the bouquet?

 

I had never heard of the lonely bouquet project, but was delighted to receive an unexpected bouquet as I have so rarely been given or sent flowers.  

 

Do you frequently buy flowers for yourself? If so why? 

I adore nature and its flora and fauna, so I buy flowers for the house every week; usually whatever is in season and cheap.  This week there is a large blue earthenware jug of sunflowers, and just fading, the first bouquet my son has bought me, double red roses and gypsophila, which I left in their pretty pink cellophane.   

Where did your Lonely Bouquet end up? At your home? at work?
 

The lonely bouquet went home to London with me and lasted well over a week.  The boys were all very curious about it, and maybe it prompted Alex's gesture.  It was sad when the bouquet started to droop, but I took it into the garden and photographed it for posterity before it passed its best.  Its ruby coloured vase is a now a lovely sundae glass.

 

Wannabe Florist 3rd Anniversary & Lonely Bouquet Documentary

Dear all,

Here is the full length documentary of how Wannabe Florist took the streets of Cambridge (UK), to partake in spreading a few smiles, by leaving 3 lonely bouquets in the 3 very special places! #thelonelybouquet

The video is also in celebration of Wannabe Florist storming into its 3rd Anniversary (August 10th). A massive thank you for all those who have followed and supported Wannabe Florist. A special thanks to mum, who always makes me strive to be the best I can be and for supporting Wannabe Florist wholeheartedly  Xx

Ill leave this blog post short - The documentary says it all. I would love to hear from you and what you thought of the video and how fellow florists celebrated this wonderful new event in our floral calendar! Photographs from the documentary can be found in the Photo Gallery.

 

Lonely Bouquet #1 - The Mill Pond, Cambridge

 

Below is the link to the video. ( in purple text).

 Wannabe Florist - The Lonely Bouquet - Documentary

 

If you saw us ( myself and crew) about town then please do drop us a line and say where you saw us or if you found one of the lonely bouquets and took it home to enjoy then please do get in touch and  share the journey the bouquet had and why not attach a photo too!!

A huge amount of thanks to Lizzy Marriot for her wonderful photography and Michael Boardman of HardKore Blellow Productions for his camera wizardry.  

 

You can find Wannabe Florist on Twitter and Facebook too. Or email wannabeflorist@gmail.com

 

Keep your eyes peeled you never know when you might see a lonely bouquet just waiting to be adopted

The Lonely Bouquet - Wannabe Florist

Dear all,

Here is a little taster of the full length film to be released shortly, of how Wannabe Florist took the streets of Cambridge (UK), to partake in spreading a few smiles, by leaving 3 lonely bouquets in the 3 very special places! #thelonelybouquet

The videos are also in celebration of Wannabe Florist storming into its 3rd Anniversary in August. A massive thank you for all those who have followed and supported Wannabe Florist. x

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0l-rE6G2sw&feature=youtu.be

 

 

 

 

If you saw us ( myself and crew) about town then please do drop us a line and say where you saw us or if you found one of the lonely bouquets and took it home to enjoy then please do get in touch and  share the journey the bouquet had and why not attach a photo too!!

 

You can find Wannabe Florist on Twitter and Facebook too. Or email wannabeflorist@gmail.com

 

Keep your eyes peeled you never know when you might see a lonely bouquet just waiting to be adopted! x

Wannabe Florist Blog Store Open

Wannabe Florist now has a floristry store open! I have chosen products from Amazon that are related to every aspect of floristry both practical workshop items from scissors to oasis foam and recreational and resource materials such a floral design books. 

So whether your looking for a gift for a flower enthusiast or you have forgotten to buy that extra roll of cellophane, the Wannabe Florist store is a direct link to these products on Amazon, which  provides stress-free shopping even in the small hours of the night!


The Wannabe Florist Store can be found on the right hand tool bar, just below the Facebook Badge. 

Happy shopping! x

Floral Fantaisie Book Review

Although no design is truly unique, as concepts are inspired by something that already exists, what makes a design special is the designer’s interpretation and vision, and award winning French designer Marie – Francoise Deprez has a wonderfully refreshing approach to floral design.

Deprez’s style is distinctive; it is simplistic, contemporary and sophisticated, created by sweeping rhythmic lines and architectural shapes, blends of textures, themes and choice flowers, all equally balanced with a youthful playfulness.

In this latest addition to her book collection, Floral Fantaisie, arts and crafts feature in many designs, incorporating traditional floristry tool box items such as ribbons and feathers to the more unusual mediums of paper doylies, newspaper and other paper products to kitsch floral printed fabrics.

What is particularly compelling about Deprez’s work is that the container and vases used, form an integral part of the design, it is not simply a vessel to hold the materials but provides part of the overall shape and form, reflecting the nature of the design and the colour palette used, whilst some mirror the movement and rhythm created, others pose as a textural juxtaposition to the core materials used. 

Other themes explored in the book are the links between the floral world and fashion design, not just by incorporating fabric into designs but items such as buttons and zips in vivid hues, skilfully placed, creating a contrast between materials used, greatly representing the world today where nature and man – made products converge and become  one.

Space and form are used imaginatively in Deprez’s work, with negative space ( an absence of material within an area of a design) and positive space (an area of material that creates an outline) used together to great effect, which adds depth, perception of distance and density of material.

Floral Fantaisie  provides the reader with a journey of themes, colour and shape, awakening the visual senses with every page turn.

www.jeuxdefleurs.org