Artisan Bouquet – leading the way to make sustainability bloom in the floristry industry

Hi Rosey – tell us about your business and why you’re so passionate about sustainability

We’re a modern-day florist business based in Kingston Park and we’re the only eco-florist in the Newcastle area. In a world where the use of plastic is still on the rise, we’re leading the way in our industry to make the use of single-use plastics a thing of the past. We’ve found that natural wrappings and designs create stunning arrangements – it’s a nod to the origins of floristry when the flowers we allowed to do the talking without the addition of plastic ribbons and bows. A great deal of our inspiration comes from the vintage era when there was no plastic.

The idea for the business came about following my father’s funeral. I realised, when taking the floral display apart, just how much non-recyclable plastic was used in the casket arrangement. My Dad would have hated that – he’d been a keen gardener and composter all his life and worried about the rising use of plastic in the world.

That’s where the business started. I began creating biodegradable funeral floral arrangements to encourage family members to take them away after the ceremony rather than leaving them to go to landfill. I realised this is what happens at the end of every day at the crematorium and its heart breaking how many flowers and non-recyclable plastic gets thrown away. Having done some research I learned that it takes 100 years for plastic floral foam to break down and when it does so, it generally ends up in the sea, impacting on marine life.

You opened your business during lockdown – how has that been and what do you offer to your customers?

Yes, opening in the middle of the pandemic has been interesting – we’ve had to adapt our business to meet the ever-changing regulations. We work from a small industrial unit and use our website as our shop front.

We have recently teamed up with other small businesses in the Newcastle Area and now offer our ‘Up North Gifts and Hampers’ range. The businesses we work with are all run by other women in the North East and include Patisserie, Studio 28, The Black Candle Company of Northumberland and The Winery in Gateshead. The gifts and hampers range includes floral bouquets, wines, chocolates and candles. We’ve already worked with several big-name companies such as Nomad Digital, Meldrum Construction and Sir James Knott Foundation who use us for occasional arrangement such as staff birthdays, leaving gifts, thank you hampers and bereavements. We love working on corporate events and will be working with more big names once the pandemic is over and corporate events start happening again.

The way we communicate with friends and family has changed in recent months because of the restrictions imposed during lockdown. We’ve found that our sustainable letterbox flowers and beautiful hampers have proved very popular as a way of marking lockdown celebrations and keeping in touch with friends and family. We’re 100% contactless ordering and payment too, which enables customers to order goodies and arrange for delivery to their loved ones.

We introduced an A5 sized box packed full of flowers called a ‘The Artisan Mini Vase’. They’re designed to go in the post and at only £16.95 they’ve been incredibly popular as a gift for loved ones who they could not see – a little hug in the post.