Your Custom Text Here
So here we are 2020 - A shiny new decade! So much potential lies ahead and I am excited about where Bloom East is heading this decade. Today has been about playing. I’m hoping 2020 will be a year to develop more floral happenings outside the weddingsphere so I started with these incredible Icelandic poppies and the January afternoon light so low in the sky. This colour palette is giving me all the feels....
Before becoming a florist I worked as a textile designer for over 12 years. My medium has shifted in recent years, but I still think of myself as a designer. When I make up a floral arrangement or design flowers for an event, I draw on my years as a textile designer and even my education at Glasgow School of Art. I feel at base it's all the same principals of colour, form and texture.
So I often find myself wondering how (and if) I can marry the two stages in my career and create something that brings together my two loves of florals and fabric. At the moment it is just a tiny seed of an idea but it is there in my mind and I want to see how it grows. These images are a start to my visual process. When I look at flowers I start to see see how they might work as a textile pattern, either as a figurative design or an abstract one. I have no idea where is it going to take me right now but I am excited and enthused by the possibilities that might happen! Watch this space.
It was a big move and a long break - due to the arrival of baby bloom east - but we made it, we are settled and we are making our way in the London floristry world!
To celebrate we joined friends at the Havelock Walk open studios. We had an absolute ball meeting all the makers and artists in the studios and also getting to know our customers in the local community. We used as many British flowers as we could source and even made some delicious edible flower lollipops and chocolate to raise money for our local nursery school.
With some interesting discussions with local businesses and some newly engaged couples, we are excited to see where the rest of the year takes us and look forward to bringing London more floral love through 2018 and beyond.
Here are some pictures from the event.
So Bloom East has something exciting in the pipeline. We are working on a pop up which will be in a central location.
Staying true to our South Lantau roots we are planning to create a floral installation using a traditional Mui Wo tricycle. Here is some of our inspiration. Watch this space for more info.
Picture by Alain Delorme from his Totems series. Click on picture to visit the artist's website.
Fiona Douglas (Bluebellgray's creative director) and I have been friends for almost 15 years. Meeting when we were bright eyed and bushy tailed at induction into our textiles course at Glasgow School of Art. We have stayed close friends ever since and have worked together on a number of projects over the years. We have supported each other to grow our businesses and our ideas and I know I will always have a friend and creative collaborator in Fiona.
This collage is called "After Abstract" because is was inspired by Bluebellgray's signature Abstract fabric.
When Fiona asked me to create a series of Floral works for her to paint I was thrilled at the prospect. It was so exciting to be working on something outside of the retail floristry remit. I began by collecting beautiful blooms which I knew she would paint in her stunning signature style, picking colours which were inspired by the Bluebellgray palette but also that might challenge their colour schemes slightly.
I have seen some of the paintings that Fiona already created using these collages as inspiration, they are stunning. You will have to wait until the Bluebellgray Spring Summer 2017 collection to see them - exciting times.
I have been fortunate enough to link up with the hugely talented Emily Baylis of June in March. Emily and I share a similar belief that collaboration is exciting and creates wonderful creative communities. She invited me to work on a number of events with her including creating a Neon Jungle for the Kee Club's 15 Birthday celebrations and also installing a magical woodland wonderland in her Pollen Room pop up event.
The Pollen Room installation
Emily's energy and vision is wonderful to be part of - I look forward to more collaborations in the future.
The Neon Jungle installation at the Kee Club in Hong Kong