Floral creations bloom

from Celebrating Whanganui - Spring/Summer Oct 2022

Backcountry workers making a difference

Jade Bedel operates Willow and Sage Dried Botanicals from her home, creating natural dried arrangements for all occasions. “I am a dried floral artist,” says Jade. “I work mainly with dried flowers, so I do floral arrangements from wreaths to larger scale installations ... a whole bunch of different things.”

She crafts her work for “anyone who has a love for flowers”.

“A lot of the time it’s bought as gifts for people — mums buying for daughters, sons buying for mums — I do weddings, to help the bride and groom celebrate, to adorn the space.”

And it’s all created through completely natural, chemical-free processes.

“I got into it over lockdown in 2020.” Jade was living with her parents in Auckland, having just finished high school, trying to find her feet. She had seen dried floral wreaths in markets and she wanted to give it a go.

“I picked a couple of bunnytails and put this tiny wreath together ... and I kept on going. It was my dad who suggested I sell them.”

She began selling her work on Etsy, an international online marketplace for makers and creators.

“Then I migrated to my own website.”

Jade is originally from the south-west of France, near Bordeaux, but has been in New Zealand for 16 years. Now 21, she lives in Whanganui where her partner trains at the New Zealand International Commercial Pilot Academy.

“I’ve always had a connection to the outdoors and nature. When I was living in France ... we lived in the countryside and were outdoors a lot. I’ve always been an outdoorsy kid. I loved gardens and flowers ... it kind of stems from there.”

Jade is studying homeopathy, so taking things naturally is normal and there is a kind of nature-based, organic relationship between her studies and her craft. She has been studying online since 2020 with the College of Natural Health and Homeopathy.

The dried floristry is going well.

“I’ve got lots planned for the year, coming up: I’ve got workshops, markets and things.” Jade has been teaching wreath-making for a year. “I started doing [workshops] at the Yellow House Cafe, I did a couple in Wellington at various locations and I did one in Palmerston North recently at the Herb

Florist Jade Bedel in her workroom filled with dried flowers and wreath vines. Photo / Paul Brooks

Farm. A bit quirky, a bit different.” The antique shop is next to Haywards Auctions in Guyton St.

There are a lot of florists who deal in dried arrangements, but Jade’s work has a difference.

“Fast floristry has become really big now, and in terms of the flowers that they use, they’re using a lot of dyed and preserved ... they’re harmful. They can’t be just chucked in the compost and decomposed without spreading chemicals through the earth. So I focus a lot on the sustainable side, from the packaging to not using floral foam, which is terrible for our health and everything else.

“Obviously, I’m not saying all florists use chemicals but all of my flowers are naturally dried, so I don’t spray them with paints or glitter or bleach them, they’re completely naturally dried. Eventually, they will fade in colour a bit and do their natural thing. I don’t use any chemicals, they’re all air-dried.” She says her wreaths are handmade with foraged materials such as wisteria, ivy and other vines. She has friends who also supply her with flowers and raw materials. With larger wreaths she uses chicken wire. For wrapping and arrangement protection she uses Midweek newspapers, after reading them, of course.

Jade’s home decor is classic, with muted shades and ornaments from the past — Beatrix Potter books and pictures, for example.

“Coming from France and liking all of these old things, I think I have a classic, kind of old style in the way I work and the way I create things. I don’t like really big bold colours ... everything is neutral and down-to-earth. I’m drawn to that colour palette and a very rustic style. By Paul Brooks.