Q&A with… The Flower Appreciation Society

Anna's flower illustrations Flower Bonnet

Ellie Jauncey and Anna Day are not your average florists. Anna as a midwife and Ellie as a knitwear designer, but with their background in illustration and textile design, and their shared love of flowers, the seed was sown for The Flower Appreciation Society. Based in Hackney, they don’t have a shop but work in a studio, producing seasonal, hand-tied bouquets of native British flowers, as well as offering a bespoke flower subscription delivered to your door. I was keen to find out a bit more about the duo.

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How did The Flower Appreciation Society start?

We met whilst working behind a bar and instantly realised we shared the same love of flowers. Ellie helped Anna with a friend’s wedding she was doing at the pub and something clicked. We then started doing weekly flowers at the pub where we met, with trips to Columbia Road flower market, we started saving all the money we earnt so we could buy a camera. The next stage was to get a website together. We did a photo shoot and then Anna worked her illustrative magic and created our website. The Flower Appreciation Society was born!

What makes The Flower Appreciation Society different to other florists?

Thanks to our backgrounds in illustration and textiles every part of the design process is important to us. We not only think about the flowers but also the wrapping, tags, ribbon, design of the website and our ever growing collection of old and new vases. We love it that people come to us for what we do rather than just because they need a florist and we are lucky that most of the time clients want our aesthetic.

bike and bouquet

swans

What are your favourite flowers?

Our favourite flowers of the moment are the most unbelievably large ranunculus which we bought at the market last week. They were the most beautiful pale pink/blush colour, full and layered with the petals falling open. They were the perfect cross between a peonie and a rose. It was so beautiful, we wanted it to live forever!

You both manage to hold down alternative jobs, Anna as a midwife and Ellie as a knitwear designer, how do you manage to juggle your day job with your passion for flowers?

The flowers are such a joy to work with that we don’t mind feeling a bit mad and confused sometimes- it’s all worth it.

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What has been your biggest achievement at The Flower Appreciation Society?

Valentine’s day this year- we went on tour and opened up shop for two days. We sold every last stem to lovely people and thoroughly enjoyed playing shops.

What projects have you got lined up for The Flower Appreciation Society, whats next?

Mother’s day is in a week so we will be busy making beautiful bespoke bouquets and the wedding season is almost upon us.
We’re very excited to be collaborating with Toast and the launch of the Marylebone store in a few weeks. We’ve also got lots of floral workshops in the pipe line which we love to do.

The Flower Appreciation Society