Hot, hot, hot, that’s all I can say of this week. I have kicked home schooling to the curb for my six and nine year old, that was relief and instead we chose the beach, water fights and I had a few G&Ts in the sun, bliss.
Once again Saturday has come upon us and I am delighted to share my 5 Questions with the ever so talented Brigitte Girling of Moss and Stone. As you can imagine I follow a lot of floral designers but there are certain accounts that I can not get enough off and one of those is Moss and Stone. I think it is the perfect account of floral elegance and takes you to a place of such beauty with every image.
So sit back and grab yourself probably a cold beverage if this heat wave continues and enjoy my chat with the lovely Brigitte.
Alicia: Thank you so much Brigitte for taking the time to answers my five questions. Firstly can you tell the reader a little bit of information about how Moss and Stone came to be?
Brigitte: I began Moss & Stone around five years ago now after about seven or eight years as a freelance florist. I loved freelancing – I loved working with amazing teams of people on incredibly glamorous jobs and learning all the time. The beauty of freelancing is that you learn new skills, ideas, ways of doing things or not doing things every day. But its also incredibly hard work, ridiculously long hours and I used to say yes to everything which meant no days off for weeks sometimes and being away from home for days on end. Eventually, I longed to spend more time in my garden – a passion I have had since forever – and to go back to a more sympathetic, seasonally led way of working, inspired by my garden and the countryside around me. I suppose Moss & Stone Floral Design became inevitable at this point and I am so happy I took the leap although it felt utterly nerve wracking at the time!
Alicia: When I look at images of your work, I feel like I'm walking through the most delicious English countryside full of seasonal blooms and natural swaying foliage. Is working with seasonal and British flowers important to you and why?
Brigitte: Oh, I am so delighted that my designs make you feel this way. I always think of my work as recreating little gardens in a bowl, urn or in someone’s hands. I only use what is available from the fabulous and hardworking local artisan growers near me plus the few bits I manage to grow in my garden. In this way I can ensure my work is truly seasonal and has an integrity and authenticity that I feel is terribly important. I am continually questioning how I can reduce the environmental impact of my art which is why working foam free is also integral to my designs alongside using locally sourced British flowers. But this is no hardship. I find it’s such an exciting way to work. The seasons constantly overlap in different ways throwing up unusual and unexpected combinations and then there is the added joy of the anticipation of waiting for a particular flower to come back into season. Waiting and longing for peonies, roses, dahlias, lily of the valley, poppies, bracken, blossom, hellebores, honeysuckle…well let’s face it everything actually…to finally return is so invigorating and means that almost every day there is something new to be enchanted by. Having everything on tap, constantly available simply feels quite dull in comparison!
Alicia: At Moss and Stone you do weddings, you teach, you do collaborations, photo shoots. What do you think draws people to your designs?
Brigitte: Oh, that’s such a difficult question to answer. I hope that my natural, undone style using interesting and unusual garden ingredients appeals perhaps to an inner nostalgia, maybe fond childhood memories and a desire for authenticity. I have actually decided to step away from weddings now because too often, I couldn’t only use locally sourced flowers, the wedding requirements were too big and I had to supplement my locally sourced flowers with more from Holland. This was a big decision for Moss & Stone, but evolving and moving forward is essential to any business and I have exciting new plans ahead. I am expanding my teaching and I am developing a series of online courses through the Moss & Stone Flower School www.mossandstoneflowerschool.co.uk which is launching this summer. Nerve wracking again!
Alicia: I love the fact you collaborate with other florists. I feel as an industry we are lucky as there seems to be a lot of support for other people's businesses and a lot of respect for other people's work. You have obviously collaborated with some fantastic florists, if you could do a collaboration with anyone who would it be and why?
Brigitte: Oh this question is easy to answer! My fantasy collaborator would be my most favourite artist, Claire Basler. When I look at her paintings and murals I am overwhelmed with a wistful longing; I have a truly raw and emotional reaction to her work. I feel she manages to capture beautifully in her paintings what I am trying so hard to do in my bowls! I just hope she reads this!
Alicia: As I mentioned in question one your work seems to be seasonal, which is something I particularly love, do you have a favourite season at all?
Brigitte: In the past this would have been easy to answer – Spring every time. All the promise of long, warm days and none of the disappointment that comes with reality! I hate being cold which I realise is ironic given what I do, so winter would have historically been my least favourite season. However, working with the seasons for so long has made me re-evaluate. Even winter provides exciting treasures that I would miss if I never experienced them again…the scent of winter flowering honeysuckle, carpets of aconites and snowdrops, incredible shape and structure when you see the bare bones of a garden or a naked tree, a stalwart rose that has just decided to flower in January…special moments. So of course, my answer has to be, I don’t really have a favourite! Actually, now, I am terribly fickle; I have a favourite flower that can change daily and a favourite moment in time that constantly changes too…I long for the next season and what it might give me whilst loving the abundance or scarcity of the season I’m in!
Alicia: You promote not using floral foam, something that I am a big supporter of too. As people start out in floristry they may be unaware of the impact of floral foam. What information or advice could you share with people that are entering the industry about floral foam and on other mechanics that can be used as a substitute?
Brigitte: Yes, I do not use floral foam at all now although of course I have used plenty in my floral career in the past, so I am no paragon at all. In my defence and the defence of the people I used to work for, I think we lacked real information and any idea of the potential environmental impact this product has on our planet. It was used everywhere, for everything because it was a quick, easy and convenient water resource. However, we now know that it is made from a non-biodegradable microplastic, which cannot be disposed of safely and will remain in the ground, water ways and oceans for an unknown and unimaginable length of time. I used a small amount of floral foam in my work for the last time in January 2018. I regretted it almost immediately having not used it for so many months leading up to that event and I will never use it again. However, this is my decision and I don’t judge anyone else for using it. All I hope for and ask is that florists reduce substantially the occasions when they do use it. Re-educating our clients and offering foam free alternatives alongside rethinking working processes and designs means that the overall reduction in usage can be huge and dramatic which can only be good for our environment. For florists wanting to know more about foam free mechanics and ideas I would recommend looking at www.sustainablefloristry.org. Its a great starting point.
Alicia: I was just looking at your website and I see that you are on the panel for BBC Radio Norfolk Garden Party. I don't know what this is, but it sounds wonderful and something we need down in Sussex! Can you please tell us a bit more about what goes on at The Garden Party?
Brigitte: Oh my goodness, this is such a wonderfully fun, informative and light hearted programme. It is a two hour show where we simply chat about gardens and gardening. The panel changes slightly each week with various specialists and I am usually on every 6 weeks or so as the floral design expert with regulars Thorids Fridriksson, the presenter and Alan Gray of East Ruston Old Vicarage. Alongside lots of chat, laughter and banter we field questions from listeners who phone in, email or send us interesting things in the post! We never know what will happen from show to show or who will call or what they might ask, which makes it all the more exciting! Sadly, since lockdown, the format has naturally changed but hopefully we will all be back soon. If you fancy a listen, you can find it on BBC Sounds
A massive thank you to Brigitte for taking part, I hope you enjoyed the interview as much as I did. Join us next week where we will be concluding our interviews with Jo Bird from David Austin.
Moss and Stone
https://www.mossandstone.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/mossandstonefloraldesign/