A new home for Flourish Sussex Flower School

Happy New Year to you all. When I started Flourish Sussex Flower School back in 2018 I didn’t have a long term plan, I just wanted to open a school that provided more of an up to date style of floristry. One that was inspired by art and creativity and not restricted by rules.I wanted a space where students could be immersed into a beautiful world of nature, colour and design.

Randolphs Farm in Hurstpierpoint has been our home for the last four years. Two studios later it has provided me with the space to grow the school and teach so many wonderful courses and workshops.

From March 2023 we will be moving to a new home at Pitfields Cutting Garden. This wonderful British cut flower garden is run by Emma Martin and Peter Bell. I met Emma back in 2019 and I take all our Foundation students for a talk and a tour at Pitfields. Our businesses have grown together , so it seemed like a natural step for Flourish to move to the converted barn at Pitfields where all courses and workshops will be run from.

As the school has developed sustainability has become a key cog in the mechanics of the schools teaching. No foam will be found here and now we moving towards using more and more of British flowers in our teachings.

When students come to the school they will see what it is like to be a grower and will get to use the flowers and foliages that they can see growing right in front of the school.

I am beyond excited for this next step in my flower journey, so if you are booked onto a course or workshop from March we will look forward to welcoming you to our new space at Pitfields Barn in Hurstpierpoint West Sussex.

5 Great Things About Running your own Floristry Business!

Maybe running your own floristry business has been a dream of yours for many years. Maybe you hate your current job and have decided it is time to do something for you. Whatever your reason for starting your business is it will be an adventure, with lots of challenges and hopefully lots of rewards. But a long the way you may have some self doubts (this is total normal) so here are my five things I believe are great about running your own floristry business.

1: Working with Nature

Don’t loose sight of the beauty that you get to work with. Whenever I feel stressed or overwhelmed by life I go for a walk, work in my garden and absorb myself into nature. As florists we get to work with the very best ingredients that mother nature grows and I feel super lucky to work with such beauty and natural elements everyday.

2: Follow your Passion

The saying ‘you only live once’ may be something that we think about but don’t act upon. Enjoying what you do is so important. Building a business is hard work, but if you have passion this will shine through what you do and will push you to keep going when times are tough. Showing others your passion will help you to build your business and will add to your happiness. Having passion for what you do is the foundation to any business. If you are passionate about it then you will work so hard to get others on board and that is the beauty of building a business based on passion.

3: Show Yourself What You Can Do

A business is a great way to push yourself to do things that you never thought you would do. The school has been open since 2018 and during that time what started as a few workshops has now turned into me teaching career courses, wedding workshops, seasonal classes, creating dried floral displays for shops and events. It has pushed me to be stronger, more confident in ways that I could have never imagine in early 2018.

Tackling social media has been one of my biggest challenges. It is an area that I have never been 100% comfortable with, but as the business has grown so has my following, and that is something I am very proud of. I totally believe that running a business can push you out of your comfort zone, which is such an important thing to do during your life. It shows us what we are capable of and even facing our fears can sometimes have the most wonderful results.

4: Working With The Seasons

Don’t underestimate how wonderful it could be to work with beautiful products and with the seasons. Floristry, or floral design is so much more than simply making bouquets. There are so many links with fashion, interior design, art work. As with fashion and interiors, colours and trends are often set within our industry. Whether you choose to follow these trends is up to you as the designer. But the beauty of working with the seasons is not just about focusing on the flower content, we can draw on the wonderful palettes that each season provides us, as well as looking at texture in nature throughout the year. Whatever challenges floristry throws at us, working seasonally will keep you inspired and always feeling creative.

5: Fitting it Around you Life

I am not suggesting that you will have loads of free time if you are running your business, you will probably get up early, work in the evenings and it might even sneak into your dreams. But it is possible to make it fit around your life, whether that is making sure you can go and see your kids in a play, or be there for sports day, or whether it’s going to run along side other work you do. Growing a business doesn’t mean that you need it to be the size of Amazon. Think about what turnover you want to get to, what fits around your life and make sure you can balance it with the other important aspects of your life.

If you have ever thought about floristry why not pop along to one of our open mornings. I might be bias but it is a wonderful industry to be part of and why not follow you dreams and begin your floral journey with Flourish Sussex Flower School today!

Alicia xx

Wedding Flowers Sussex

Wedding flowers are of course one of the most important part of the floristry industry. More than ever people are wanting to make their weddings completely unique and transform their wedding venue, which can be done with lowers.

Combining vision, inspiration with your clients wishes, while making sure you come away with a healthy profit can be a challenging task.

Our four day intensive Wedding Mash Up course combines inspirational designs, with eco friendly techniques and business knowledge, so that students come away with a wealth of knowledge and vision to supply their own clients.

From creating a show stopper of a bridal bouquet, to a table installation to a fireplace design and stair case display, at Flourish Sussex Flower School we pack this course with everything we believe you need to know, so that you come away with the knowledge and tools to execute unique wedding flowers successfully and confidently.

On day one students are given an introduction to the course and listen to Alicia’s experience of running her own wedding and event business for eight years. Then a demonstration is given of how to create a seasonal, garden style bridal bouquet, finished off by beautiful botanical dyed silk ribbons from northern hands. In the afternoon a model comes in to hold the arrangements while the students work is photographed.

Day two we will turn our attention to table installation. As a group we will create runners, table vases, urns, meadows, all to create a striking display.

Day three we will turn our attention to the business side. Students will be taught how to order from a wholesaler, how to allocate flowers to arrangements, pricing, running a successful wedding.

On the final day we work in a private home and decorate the fireplace and staircase.

All arrangements will be photographed and students will be sent final shots of the arrangements, plus images of your working.

Course Details:

Date: 17th-20th October 2022

Price: £860.00 includes all flowers and foliage. Payment plans are available to all.

Make Your Easter Wreath with Flourish Sussex!

Hello! I'm Alicia from Flourish Sussex Flower School. I founded the school in 2017 and have been lucky enough to welcome many students through our studio doors. We moved to our permanent studio here in Sussex last June and we have created a beautiful space for students to get creative in.

This blog is where I share floristry tricks, tips, inspiration and guidance. I want to share my passion of floristry and hopefully get you to get creative with flowers. I hope you enjoy!

Easter is fast approaching and what could be more wonderful than creating your own Easter wreath for your home. Here at Flourish Sussex we have everlasting wreaths and wreath kits that you can choose from to celebrate this wonderful time of year.

This year we have three glorious designs to choose from.: The Bridgerton, The Featherington and The Danbury. Each one comes with a grapevine wreath frame, a beautiful selection of dried flowers and foliage and a velvet ribbon. Instructions are included in the pack and if you need some extra help you can simply watch a tutorial on our Youtube channel.

Check out our Bridgerton wreath tutorial here

Please note the video shows the wreath on a large frame, this year we are only doing medium wreath kits.

If you don’t fancy making a wreath we also sell pre-made kits, check out our online store for the spring collection.

If you want to make an event of it, why not sign up to our half day spring making course. Spend the morning with us on the 6th April and create your own wreath under the guidance of myself. You also get some sweets treats and a glass of fizz.

Get creative with Flourish Sussex Flower school this spring time!