The creative florist — Elisabeth Noël
While her canary bird sings happily in the background, part-time florist Elisabeth Noël prepares for her new floral design. The afternoon sun is setting while she looks outside and enjoys the breath-taking sunset. She clears up the living room table to start crafting. While she has a separate flower room at home, she likes to spend her time crafting in her well-lit living room.
She chooses the flowers and plants that she wants to use in her next bouquet. ‘It gets so messy in my flower room. But even here, in the living room, it feels like a bomb exploded after I’ve finished a new piece,’ she smiles. The other reason why she prefers working in the living room is the extra quality time she can spend with her husband.
She lays down the flowers and plants that she wants to use in her next bouquet. ‘The first thing I ask my customers is the color palette they had in mind. It is crucial to know this to create the color flow of the piece.’ Elisabeth explains while she shows a detailed pink flower. ‘This focus flower will be the core of the bouquet.’ Besides color and a focus flower she also takes into account the textures and the form of the plants. Elisabeth centralizes the bright pink flower while she puts more and more leaves and racemes together to create a fresh combination.
A new design often comes naturally to her during the creation process. ‘Even though you can focus on a certain style, you only know what you’ve created in the end. It makes the process very exciting,’ she says enthusiastically while trimming the stems.
When she thinks back on her first year as a part-time self-employed, she smiles. ‘I thought I could do everything and combine lots of activities but I have grown to find a niche, which is being a florist. This gave me more peace, something I really needed.’
Besides narrowing down her activities, she also limited the number of monthly delivery moments to be able to keep up with the commissions. ‘I had to teach my customers to be more patient, especially in this day and age, they assume you are available at all times on social media,’ Elisabeth says. ‘And the large delivery services are able to deliver in a very short time.’
Now, she feels more in control thanks to the boundaries she established between her and her customers. ‘I’m content with the current situation, I can earn a bit of extra money while practicing my passion.’ With a wide smile, she shows off her newly created bouquet.
Writer’s bio:
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Loraine Vekemans is an Erasmus exchange student at the Journalism and Mass Communication department of AUBG. She interviewed a creative florist because she finds it important that people with small online businesses should be able to bloom.
