BLOOMING HAUS: The Fashion Favorite Florist
From the Red Carpet to 360 Sustainability: Blooming Haus Unveils their Luxurious World Ahead of MADRID BLOOMS
Could you tell us a bit about how you started in the world of floral design? What was your first job?
Michael Dariane: So we started off as a small pop up store in 2014. It was a little store. After a couple of months we decided to enter into the world of events. This is when Michal went into do Master Floristry, then we launched the brand looking at events, contracts, and we left retails. That’s it in a nutshell. Our first job in events was a wedding. A lady came into the store, and she was planning a winter wedding. That was our very first event. We went and got a lot of Christmas trees, put them all around the venue, with flowers as well obviously. But that was the very first event we did, and from then on we decided, right, let’s do events, it’s much more fun.
What is your signature as a floral designer?
Michal Kowalski: I would say it’s an organic style. We are inspired and try to replicate nature in our designs. So I think it’s a bit more than inspiration. Our style is obviously very decorative, so it is on the luxury side. A lot of installations and events we do don’t go onto social media, there’s a big chunk of the brand that unfortunately we cannot share, and that part is even more decorative and opulent, but still we replicate nature. It’s definitely not a classic style, but more of a modern organic style with luxury. We create a lot of asymmetrical designs, they’re very textural, very modernised. We are inspired by the past, but we are trying to move away from this and go with the flow. A lot of the events are dictated by the brands that we collaborate with, so 95% of our work is with other brands. But it’s slightly different to standard floristry, where it would mainly be weddings, but for us, we work with brands, with luxury B2B, that’s our business orientation. 5% of what we do is weddings, it’s a small percentage. For the B2B, the brands come to us with their own guidelines, for example, the selection of flowers. We obviously try to interpret that and take it into our umbrella, and see how Blooming Haus will execute it. We will offer alternatives, if they want a classic look we will try to modernise it, but if we have to go for the classic look, we try to introduce some other different flowers as well, maybe we could make a more textured look, or add some different vases, we’re basically going to upscale it in our own way. I would say, very proudly, that the brands we work with, if we work with them once, we are most likely going to work with them again, and again, and again. I think it’s because of our style, but also our very, very good customer service, so we go above and beyond in order to over-deliver, I would say. It’s not just about the delivery of a project, it’s about having this very personal, bespoke relationship with our client, if they need something, we are going to WOW it. We find that when our customers come back to us, they give us more creative control. But in luxury, it takes a very long time to get that kind of strong relationship, so eventually we can give our ideas, but initially we do have to work with what they want. Until we have this super strong relationship where they know we always over deliver, and then we have free reign of doing things in our own way.
How did you get into the world of luxury?
Michael Dariane: The way it started was we first got a contract with a private members club, then it built from there, from word of mouth. We’re very proud of the type of customer service we offer, this was one of the major things that helped us to grow, we were offering a great service. Any last minute change, change of mind, you know how luxury clients are, half an hour before the event they will change something, we were there to make sure they were happy. From there on it grew. Working with big brands then attracts more big brands, then it grows from there.
"It’s not just about the delivery of a project, it’s about having this very personal, bespoke relationship with our client."
What has been the most significant learning experience in your career as a floral designer?
Michal Kowalski: Logistics are very important. I think that’s one of the major lessons we’ve learnt. I think a lot of people don’t realise the amount of logistics and preparation it takes to get to the final stage. It’s not just placing flowers. The logistics and the preparation pre-event is like 90% of the work. Organising, making sure everything is prepared on time, making sure you have a Plan B, in case you don’t get the flowers, the color you wanted. That’s one of the major lessons. The second lesson would be being resourceful. If there is a crisis, if something has gone wrong, you need to know how to quickly address that. Also, go to the gym! It’s a physical job. People don’t realise how physical the job is.
Are there any emerging trends or innovative techniques that you find particularly exciting?
Michal Kowalsi: I think we will go back to classics, it’ll happen over the next couple of years. The reason is because there are too many florists these days. There’s going to need to be more differentiation, and things are going to need to move on from what they used to be. Design now are very free flowing and sculptural, everyone can do that. But I think we are going to start moving away from this because there’s an oversaturation, we’re going to go back to the classic. I give it two or three years. I think the trends will be very strong. I think the next thing is a modern version of the classics, it won’t be the 1990’s classics, it will be more textural, more about the colour, we have more flowers than we used to have, we have new varieties coming in year by year. There are new growers too, not small batch growers, the big ones are coming out with new flowers. Which is great for us, it means there’s a lot of investment going into it. The designs will continue to be minimal too though, because flowers are expensive, and they will only continue to increase in price, people are going to have to be creative with their designs. That’s why we see so many ribbons and bows, and other decorative elements. It’s not just flowers now, florists are becoming decorators. Style our table and so on. You see it on Instagram, they need to do that. Florists decorate too now, it’s merged into one, especially in the UK. There are still florists who are just florists in like Germany and France. But in boutiques and little stores they sell little objects, candle holders and so on, they take on a decorator role too. It’s good business, it saves the customer money too, they don’t have to go to a florist and a stylist, the clients are happy, the florists are happy, they have different revenue. A lot of places actually rent out their props. We don’t though, that’s our intellectual property, it’s our unique style, but others do. So, I guess that’s the next trend, florists as decorators. I like it, it makes it more exciting.
Micheal Dariane: It adds more elements together, obviously flowers are always the central one, but it’s nice to test and explore other elements that can add to an arrangement.
What specific sustainable practices do you incorporate into your daily work as a floral designer?
Michael Dariane: So, we recycle all the packaging that the flowers come in. We compost all the waste, we’ve teamed up with a compost company, they pick up the waste. Last month I think we composted one tonne of green waste. We monitor every month how much we compost, basically everything is composted, or recycled. The only thing that isn’t is like rubber bands, things like that, that can’t be recycled. All our vans are electric vans. For the electricity we have in the studio, we have a 100% renewable energy supplier. We try to close the loop. What else?
Michal Kowalski: Our website provider is a fully sustainable one. Our energy that we use to bring the internet to our premises is small and fully sustainable. The cling film we use gets upcycled into the production of vases. Batteries, any electrical equipment gets recycled at a facility. All these little things we do, that no one thinks about. It’s not just about not using flower foam. You may not use flower foam, but then you have a Diesel vehicle, a Range Rover, then, what’s the point? It mitigates the good. So we encourage everyone to use bicycles, not commute too far. We think about lowering the overall footprint. Oh, we have to mention this. We are not perfect. We import flowers. That’s what this industry is. It’s all about importing, sometimes buying locally is not the right answer. Often, the local growers cannot give us the supply that we need, so we have to reach out to bigger places, that’s where Holland comes into play. We try not to buy any peonies in winter, not to have them imported from South Africa. To use seasonal flowers and encourage the clients to do the same, as much as we can. Seasonal often means local.
Michael Dariane: We’re a member of the Florist Sustainability Initiative. They were very impressed with our application, they usually work with the big players, but they decided to include us in because they were impressed with what we were doing. So we go to conferences and the talks about how to make the industry more sustainable, we have our own targets, like next year our goal is for 90% of our flowers to come from sustainable sources. Whether they are B Corp Certified for example, thinking about the environmental and social characteristics too.
Michal Kowalski: So we need to make sure they come from a sustainable source, we look to see if they have a B Corp Certification, or if they are a part of an FSI group or a Rainforest Alliance. We currently buy 60% from sustainable sources.
Micheal Dariane: Some other things we do is, you know the plastic film flowers come in, that’s not recyclable, but we have teamed up with a company in Brighton, they melt it down and they make accessories for the house with it. That way we reduce the plastic that goes into landfill. For a lot of the flowers, we’ve teamed up with the Confetti Club. They accept certain flowers that they can dry into confetti and sell them, and the profits go to cancer research. So it’s all about finding these little initiatives, it doesn't need to be something huge. These little things can make a major difference, and they invite other organisations to team up and collaborate. We think that's the best way to do it.
When people enjoy your floral designs, what message or emotion do you hope they take away?
Michael Dariane: I think it should bring up emotions, whether it’s a wedding or a corporate event. It has to bring up some sort of connection. That’s why we try to understand the story, what clients want to put out there for their event. When they walk in there should be a feeling of cosiness, or belonging … that’s what it should do first.
Michal Kowalski: That’s perfect. Well I can add what I want us to feel. I would want us to feel appreciated, because of the time we put in. So if we see a smile on their face, that’s enough, that’s good payment. We know then that we have done a good job. We are then happy, because we know how labour intensive this all is, how time consuming the process is. If we have that appreciation from the client, that makes us complete. An email that you receive sometimes, that melts the heart.
Michael Dariane: That’s what makes us continue. The beginning was so hard, and then Covid came, these types of little nods, emails, random thank yous, that make us continue to move forward.
