I didn’t know A Better Florist was actually a real shop! I mean, there had to be one because it does free same day deliveries of bouquets and flowers but I thought it had been in some “industrial”or some hipster space because it was founded like a startup.
It’s actually a real florist shop, of course mainly they deal with online purchases but ok, what a revelation.
Anyway, on a nice Saturday afternoon I was there to join their flower arrangement workshop. It’s usually held twice or thrice a month and you can look at their flower arrangement worskhop classes here on their Event Brite.
So you know, instead of just buying bouquets from them, you can actually learn how to make a basic one.
Firstly, we learned how to dethorn our roses and there is a “kiap-er” which helps you take out the thorns. Our instructor told us to leave a few leaves (heh) on top for aesthetic and guided us step by step to prepare the flowers, their names and the type of plant they are.
I mean, you get a bunch of flowers but you need to still pretty them up by removing leaves, thorns, stray stems and all.
What I learned most is that carnations don’t really appear all bloomed when they’re “new”?! They’re like small buds with their petals curled up, a florist method is to gently massage the petals to make them look bloomed out.
AND IT TURNS TO THIS AFTER YOU MASSAGE THEM. Flower skill Exp ++ Take that Aerith.
We were shown how to do a half round bouquet and really, you need skill and experience to do it. The instructor helped out with mine and then after finishing it, it is taped around so that the shape can be there.
More stuff I learned! To keep the flowers fresh there’s a wet sponge to give it enough hydration until you get to put it in a vase.
Also, the “gunny sack” type of material is one of the latest trends to make it more rustic.
Once the bouquet was done, everyone in the workshop got a tiny packet of flower food and instructions that the bouquet should last for at least a week, we needed to just trim the stems, change the water and feed it the flower food.
These are the actual professional ones you can buy on their website, delivered in their various packages with chocolates or scented candles and all. In any case, now I know besides just purchasing flowers why bouquets do cost some money, it’s the skill of crafting the bouquet, sorting the flowers and preparing them.
It’s kind of like doing an artwork but with flowers.
SO TADA. This is MINE! Nice right? If you want to learn how to make a bouquet yourself, go try out one of their workshops, you get to learn how to make it and bring yours home!
Besides buying a flower bouquet over at A Better Florist or attending their workshop, I noticed they also have a scholarship program. They are having this program to expose undergraduates to real challenges and successes of a start-up retail company. The intern will work with the CEO, full time staff and other interns in operations, market research, and even finance and accounting.
This scholarship program is more for those who want to learn how to be entrepreneurs basically, not the florist part since it’s the business side of things. But if you are interested in becoming a florist yourself, they’ve got a careers page too. I just though the scholarship program is kind of unique for a florist shop?
Anyway, maybe now I can try make my own bouquets in the future… It is pretty fun learning how to do them.
