shane connolly.

shane connolly & co. | london, england

Shane Connolly is a renowned floral designer and ambassador for sustainable floristry. His clients range from prominent institutions like the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Royal Academy of Arts, and the National Portrait Gallery, to a veritable who's who of the great and the good of British life.

He is perhaps best known for his public work for The Royal Family. His most recent commission was the Coronation of Their Majesties The King and The Queen in Westminster Abbey in May 2023. He also designed the flowers for their marriage at Windsor Castle in 2005, and for the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 2011.

Shane has approached all these iconic moments with the same respect for nature, season, and setting. Everything is thoughtful, in all senses of the word. Shane has designed events in countries as diverse as the United States and India, and always with the same aim: to leave the smallest footprint behind and be led by what is local and available. Shane works with the Royal Horticultural Society to improve sustainability in floristry in their annual shows, and he is also a judge at RHS Chelsea. He has written five books and teaches his approach to flower design all over the world.

In 2019, Debra Prinzing visited Shane at his studio in London's North Kensington district and recorded Episode 403 of the Slow Flowers Podcast, which originally aired May 29, 2019. This Q&A is condensed and edited from that conversation:

SFJ: Can you give me a snapshot of Shane Connolly & Co. and the scope of your studio?

SC: Gosh, sometimes it feels like it's a cottage industry and sometimes it feels like it's international; sometimes it feels like a tiny company and sometimes it feels big. I wish someone would have told me when I was 16 how exciting my life in flowers would be. And I'm glad that no one told me how little money you actually make from it; but honestly, the excitement has outweighed

SHANE CONNOLLY IN SEATTLE SEPTEMBER 29-30, 2023

Slow Flowers Society presents two days of sustainable floral design lecture, design demonstrations, and a floral design workshop.

Advance registration is recommended to the public lecture. Advance registration is required for the workshop.

Make Reservations And Order Tickets Here

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

Lecture, Design Demonstration, and Book-Signing Event

2 P.M. LECTURE

$45 per person

Lecture + signed copy of A Year in Flowers

$70 per person

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

Floral Design Intensive Workshop

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ALL-DAY WORKSHOP

$749

($649, Slow Flowers Members)

Refreshments, lunch, flowers, vessels, and supplies provided

Includes photography + signed copy of A Year in Flowers everything. When I first started, I thought I would be doing parties and weddings with flowers, but I never thought it would lead me to giving talks, writing books, and traveling. I can't believe that I've been asked to so many places to meet and talk with people about flowers.

SFJ: The initial way I learned of you was from your mission and having a brand related to British-grown flowers and sustainability.

SC: I would be very happy to take that description!

SFJ: Designing the flowers for the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales gave you a special opportunity to talk about local flowers.

SC: That's what they wanted, and it was completely natural and organic -- I didn't see it as an unusual approach because I was basically doing what I had always done.

SFJ: What is your typical approach to designing wedding or event flowers?

SC: It begins with the client. I want the client to be happy and feel like they have led the process so that when the party or wedding actually happens, they think, "I feel at home; I feel comfortable." As the designer, you really have to get the ego out of it.

SFJ: There are so many in the industry who have a look or a signature style and it doesn't sound like that's your approach.

SC: Well, if someone said to me, "I want my event or wedding to be full of flowers and really colorful," that's not exactly my personal preference (I love things to have an airiness about them), but I can also think, what flower looks good massed together at that time of year? In the autumn it might be hydrangeas heaped in bowls. And what if we added pears and medlar fruits on the stem? That approach gives the clients the really, rich intense look that they wanted.

SFJ: Sometimes clients get locked into a specific flower though, right?

SC: The best thing would be to say, "Let's decide on a color and leave the rest to me." But increasingly, because of social media, that's harder because people want us to work from photographs.

SFJ: We loved your story of how you first started working with flowers. It seems as if you fell down the rabbit hole of loving flowers versus going into a formal educational program?

SC: Yes, completely. Now-a-days, you would call it an internship or an apprenticeship.

SFJ: Do you think that path explains why you're so focused on seasonality, and also, maybe the greener, pre-1950s techniques before floral foam?

SC: I did use foam in the past, but I never liked it. I never liked the touch or the smell. I don't know why I didn't think there were ecological issues around its use, for years, none of us did.

SFJ: What is your preferred foam-free mechanic now?

SC: I use chicken wire or the right container with water.

SFJ: What about all the floral arches and floral walls that seem to be engineered with foam?

SC: Back in the day, before flower walls and the obligatory archway over the church door for photography, you would do a nice display of plants on either side of the church door, which I still think is quite beautiful. Yet today, so many people want the floral arch for an Instagram photo opportunity.

SFJ: But how do you create an archway of flowers? What is your technique?

SC: It depends on the budget! I receive so many messages that begin with, "It's all very well for you, but I have a budget." We have constraints, like every designer. We do not have "Money is no object" thrown at us, ever. I never have had that situation in 30 years!

SFJ: Do you think that is because flowers often have to get in line behind the caterer or the dress -- and you're further down the pecking order when it comes to the wedding budget?

SC: I would say yes, 90 percent of the time, you are. Yet, I always say that it's not "just flowers." We are creating an ambience; we're creating a mood, and the fact that it's a beautiful, transient thing that might only last for four hours or for the length of a meal . . . that's part of its beauty. For those four hours, the guests are immersed in nature, and they have an homage to the world of nature in front of them, along with delicious food and delicious wine. Sometimes, the budget becomes the obsession.

And I think the look or the mood you want to create should be the obsession.

SFJ: Back to creating a floral arch ...

SC: If there is a budget, you can have a metal structure made by a welder, which then could be covered with chicken wire. Everything can be fed into buckets filled with water and you can use water tubes for extra things. It's important to develop relationships with growers and ask them, "What could you grow or what do you have?" We did a party where I created an archway with potted hornbeam trees that could later be planted in the garden. For another event, we used flowering shrubs grown on tripod structures, planted in big urns on either side of a doorway. Why does something like that have to meet in the middle?!

SFJ: You've often been asked to speak and write about floral design and your philosophy of flowers. What inspiration can you share?

SC: We recently went to Barcelona and, of course, the architect Gaudi is associated with Barcelona. One of the things he said really struck me: "If you want to be original, you need to get back to the origin." That inspires the questions fundamental to my work: What is the origin of flowers? Why do we bring flowers inside? We bring them inside because we want to see nature, I think. Why do we give flowers to someone who's just had a baby or whose mother has just died?

It's a fundamental reason for having flowers. The next question is: Where do flowers come from? They come from a garden or a field, and they come from nature. If you detach too much from that, then you might as well use fluffy cushions on your table. To me, people want to be moved by nature and to be moved by the beauty of nature, not by my cleverness, if it exists.

SFJ: It seems that you have always been oriented to the garden and the seasons.

SC: Maybe in the past 10 years and certainly in the past five years, suddenly (the garden) is the thing, but it's always the way I approached things. I used to be slightly puzzled by people who got really excited by wanting peonies in December in England.

SFJ: Thank you so much for your leadership in conversations around sustainable practices, Shane. Your voice has inspired so many of us.

SC: I appreciate what Rita Feldmann of the Sustainable Floristry Network says: "How can you be doing something that is supposed to glorify nature if it's actually working against and in spite of nature?" I've found that getting older suddenly makes me more confident. You suddenly think, "I feel strongly and I don't really care what people think if I speak out loudly about it."

SHANE CONNOLLY WEBSITE INSTAGRAM