Finding yourself scrambling for a gift this Valentine's (we've all been there)? Consider your last minute gifts sorted with @slowlivingflorist’s delicate and personal touch on these dainty blossoms. Below, we talked to the owner behind this humble establishment.
How did your love for flowers begin?
Growing up in a kampung, I had the privilege to be surrounded by nature. From wildflowers at the country roadside, chasing dragonflies, backyard gardens of my father's shop to home-grown flowers by my mother, I guess the environment really played a big role to mold the basis of how I observe things today. Simple happiness like these are often forgotten in the years of growing up.
What does it mean to be a "slow living florist"? How does the philosophy of slow living tie in to your profession? Slow living is an approach to everyday life, it is a lifestyle choice. Instead of the usual "buy flower, get flower" routine, we wish to become that florist that takes a slower pace and brings extra value to the people around us; we wish to bring back the real meaning of flower buying/gifting. To help people learn more about the flowers they purchase, how to take care of them, how to appreciate their natural life cycle and so on. Flowers aren't just beautiful things you nicely wrap and appreciate for a moment of time, it is a living thing that deserves respect and love too! We also wish to make flowers something that brings balance, ease, sanity, and low stress to the people. It is a self love lifestyle hobby where you get yourself something beautiful every week to appreciate and love yourself more.
What is the charm of flower arrangements that keeps you so passionate?
It’s the ability to project my thoughts in every project, to change public perspective on flowers and enhance aesthetic in the community. I’d love to remind ourselves that life needs a gentle dream every now and then.
This might be really hard to do but what is your favourite flower and why?
Every undiscovered flower might be our next favourite flower. There are so many flowers in the world that we have yet to explore, so it is better to leave this question with no answer.
What is the best part about running your business?
To have the freedom to do anything, everything and be afraid at it at the same time too. Sound super confusing but yes, that’s the crazy part that brought so much joy and a sense of accomplishment!
Flowers aren't just beautiful things you nicely wrap and appreciate for a moment of time, it is a living thing that deserves respect and love too!
What are your top 3 tips for anyone at home trying to hand-make their own bouquets at home?
Be wild, be confident, and just love what you have created.
What was the most surprising/interesting brief you've had to fulfill?
We have a customer who has moved to Korea for good and misses her grandma back in Malaysia terribly. She couldn't come back to Malaysia to visit her due to the lockdown, so she subscribed to our flower bouquet and writes to her grandma different notes every two weeks. Isn't this heartwarming and beautiful? Sometimes, we can't help to put some extra flowers for her popo too!
In your own words, please describe what your creative process is like when you start your floral designs.
Our usual first approach is to find out more about our customer as a person and how we can ease any worries or concerns for them. From there we can list out their mood, what they like, what they don’t like and gets our mind racing to bring that glimpse of their story to life.
Flowers communicate the deepest feelings in the most elegant manner. It can be something very sentimental, emotional and personal. From their story and emotion, we then evolve into the next step to create. The inspiration to create can be anything: their story, the receiver, a poetry that we feel very much related to them, a beautiful vase, the flow/shape of random falling branches, or even the bad weather could spark ideas for us.
And all these will then results in the choice of flower we will use, their arrangement, so on and so forth.
What are Slow Living Florist's goals for this year? Definitely to create, explore and learn more in both skill sets and the slow living working lifestyle. We also wish to collaborate with many different people who bring different skill sets and backgrounds to the table. We hope to take up more challenges and push our boundaries and at the same time grow our business by using more sustainable techniques and methods.
Comentarios