LOGISTICAL AESTHETICS

BARRY LUPTON INTERVIEWS RUTH MONAHAN LOGISTICAL AESTHETICS

Operating a successful horticulture business is both an art and a science.

This is no better represented than in the field of floristry, a highly skilled profession that draws together aesthetics, artistry, plant knowledge, retailing, project management and everything else needed to operate a sales business.

Floristry is a sector which has grown and transformed over the last twenty years, with supply being consolidated and points of sales growing exponentially.

These factors, and others, have put enormous pressure on independent florists, forcing many out of business and others to adapt. Those who adapted sought opportunity in new markets, creating niches, brands and high value products and services. One of the most successful of Ireland’s independent florists is Ruth

Monahan, managing director of

Appassionata Flowers. A thriving

Dublin-based florist with a retail shop on Drury Street and a floral studio on South Cumberland

Street. Established in 2004, the company now employs 15 people, providing a wide range of services for events, hotels, restaurants and corporate clients. I was delighted to talk with Ruth to gain insight into her drive, Appassionata and her views on the sector. ✽

What was the genesis of your career in floristry? I was very influenced by my granny in Sligo who has the most gorgeous garden created from cuttings, she is 97 and still can be found amongst her Astible. But I also was very into arts and crafts and I suppose merged my love of flowers and plants with the handcraft side of it all. I worked in television in my 20’s but on turning 30 I decided to jump 2 feet in and signed up for flower school with the aim of becoming a creative florist and use flowers as a textile to make beautiful things.

How did you go about gaining and perfecting your floristry skills? I attended the McQueens Flower School intensive course in London and worked with them for a year before coming home. I learned so much from them as their flower work spans so many areas from huge scale weddings to lots of creative events and of course working in a flower shop. I found the florists there so inspirational and my curious self made sure that I learned each technique fully so that I could apply it to any idea that I would have for anything floral.

What were the most significant challenges you faced getting the business established? I started the business from my kitchen and found it difficult to get an overdraft even, as the bank manager scoffed at the idea behind Appassionata. Luckily our local bank manager in Sligo was much more receptive. I think that because floristry is seen as a trade, as a business, you can’t get funding with the LEO’s (Local Enterprise Offices) and more plus our VAT rate is too high at 13.5% also. This VAT rate means that our flowers are much more expensive than those on mainland Europe, I think that if we were on the 9% rate, we really could have a larger national industry in flower growing. This would benefit Irish growers, sellers and consumers. As an example, if flowers were better value for consumers, it would be more culturally acceptable for everyone here to buy flowers along with your bread and milk as the French do. It would be wonderful if Irish farmers were encouraged to diversify from food to flower production.

The other significant challenge would be that you don’t have the luxury of a fully stocked flower market with a diverse choice of flowers hence when we started, we had to try and find the good Dutch suppliers who at the time were few in the country. Thankfully we have great relationships with the Dutch market and some Irish growers but I do wish that the Smithfield market flower companies had been nurtured so that it could still be a viable way to buy your flowers plus it would save on stress when those last minute large jobs come through.

How have you evolved the business since you first opened? We constantly evolve our business to suit the demands of the time. At the time of the inception of Appassionata, Ireland was in the economic boom but then as I had my first child, the market collapsed in 2009 and obviously flowers were a tertiary spend so we were the first extra spend to be cut from any company. At the time we unfortunately had to let people go and really work hard at making our margins work. We look at everything month to month as all of our various business areas within Appassionata oscillate during the rollercoaster of a year in terms of busyiness. We started as a small shop near Sandymount, then expanded to a studio setup below Merrion Square and added our flower shop on Drury Street a year later. Thankfully both locations are busy and filled with beautiful flowers and our fantastic team.

Low wages and low profits are synonymous with commercial horticulture. How does your experience of floristry compare? Unfortunately, floristry is no different to commercial horticulture with regard to wages and profits.

What are the primary day-to-day challenges your business faces? The cold and labour intensity are definitely difficult as a combination during the winter. We work long hours so it is important to me that my team are looked after in terms of wellness. Again supply is an issue in Ireland as we don’t have the luxury of a London florist by being able to restock early every morning but instead are dependent on deliveries.

A flower business is about making beautiful things but the background of cold environs and lots of delivery and time logistics not to mention bubble wrap to make sure that everything that we make reaches its destination in perfect condition and ready for the home, venue, table it belongs to. Actually I would think that our primary challenge is logistics. Sometimes I think it’s better to think of us as a logistics company that happen to sell beautiful things.

What level of time commitment do you give to the business? In terms of time, I have just finished the madness of having two major Hallmark seasons so close together on top of a busy event season so work hours have been long. I work mostly in the studio full days during the week and am in our shop as much as possible. Weekend work is also there depending on time of year and commitments in the diary. I have two small children so I have to fit work around their busy schedules but I am lucky to have such a talented and committed team who are the backbone of our business.

Can you describe your typical working day? We are unusual in our setup. We are a creative floristry business AND have two business properties, which require different forms of floristry and skills but use the same team to run between both.

We have a physical front to the business with our shop on Drury Street, a pretty shop at 29 Drury Street a boutique shopping street in Dublin 2 filled with stylish blooms, plants and more.

But then we are unique in that we have a studio below Merrion Square where most of our flower magic happens and indeed 80% of our work is made. We run a flower school that is especially busy at Christmas and we have an online shop too.

Our days vary greatly depending on the particular day. We start at 7 a.m. in the studio on Cumberland Street South, We work dynamic days built on many deadlines where things can change at the buzz of the phone; flexibility and calm are paramount, combined with an ability to adapt floristry style by the hour.

“Our salal and eucalyptus come from Kerry, but are exported to Holland and then back to us”

Our clients vary from corporate to domestic and all expect a high quality standard of product and service.

We are like the larks, our deliveries come from Holland on a daily basis, we start at 7 a.m. and work till late afternoon. Our days can look chilled at the start with only the scheduled jobs on the board but then everyone else's work day starts and the day can go bellyup.

The retail floristry sector is often seen as being quite fragmented, with poor levels of communication, networking and collaboration on shared issues. How do you think this could be addressed? I think that there should be more communication, networking and collaboration between floristry businesses. I believe that the fundamental problem is that floristry is labour intensive and exhausting though creative work and that people are not going to meet at night when they have to be up early each day. I think that there is too much reliance on staying within a relay system style of floristry and that we need an association that inspires florists to be passionate about the flowers that they can use, to be more adventurous in the flowers that they buy and to enjoy the creative process – all combined, these will work to please customers more. Trends have changed so much and flowers are so much an extension of a home environment that we as florists are responsible in supplying our customers with the best and most beautiful flowers and floristry that we can. As florists we need to move on from the more traditional static styles and create pieces that really show off each flower's own beauty, to buy in all the new varieties of fillers that cost the same as the more traditional ones and really create more passion for florists and consumers here.

How much of the plant material you use is grown in Ireland? We try and use as much as we can – ironically our salal and eucalyptus come from Kerry but are exported to Holland and then back to us. We will have shamrock coming this week from Waterford and have our weekly daffodil supply from there too for the season. We would buy probably 10% of our produce from Irish growers and this is not due to a lack of trying, but to the lack of growers in our country and this is a shame. I do believe that more demand from florists would create more producers.

Given the potential for growing in Ireland, why do you think the level of Irish produce is so low? From an outside point of view, I would think that it is down to the fact that there is fundamentally little support for Irish flower growers. Everything has become about Irish food but the flower growing industry has been ignored. I know that the Dutch infrastructure can seem megalithic but if you look at key food products, even butter, I think that if it was actually looked at, our climate, environment and soil could grow the most beautiful flowers and foliage for both domestic and international markets. There has been a big movement in Britain to recognize the British flower industry which involves the florists in the campaign and it would be great to have something similar here. What opportunities are there for existing and potential Irish growers to supply florists? I think that we should all watch Jean de Florette again and be inspired to change around farming ideas about planting and have support to grow flowers, roses and more.

What advice would you give to growers wanting to explore these opportunities further? I think that there are lots of opportunities for Irish growers to supply florists. But I think it would be great to open up a conversation so that growers can see what florists would love them to supply and florists could find out more about the feasibility of growing different flowers here for them to use. I would urge potential growers to research with florists what would be their best sellers and what would be economically viable to grow. Don’t assume that it is has to be flowers at all as foliage demand is enormous. If you’ve ever seen the fern farms in Central America you get a sense of how large the market can be. Consumers also want to have more Irish grown flowers and they will pay more for that USP.

How do you see your business evolving over the next few years? We are trying to get better everyday at what we do, we have a wonderful team of 15 with fantastic talents and are planning a few different ways for everyone in Ireland to have more Appassionata flowers in their lives.

Floristry really is an art and a science. What is your opinion of the current approach to training florists in Ireland? I think that the training is great from a technical point of view but we meet so many people who want to be florists but who have no flower or plant knowledge nor have they been exposed to design elements that correspond to what is happening in interiors and more. The passion for creating wonderful work using flowers really needs to be ignited and encouraged so that we can have better floristry here and become more renowned for our flower work. I think the FETAC system could be updated and moved on in terms of floristry style and trends, as florists are not learning how to work with vessels or flowers and the lack of communication between the floristry courses and working florists is definitely an area to examine. This would result in better trained florists who are ready to enter the workplace fully fledged in both their creative and technical selves.

What advice would you give to someone considering floristry as a career path? I know that we receive lots of CVs from aspiring florists who would love to work in the area. Being a florist is a passionate vocation which requires lots of long hours and hard work. It is so rewarding as you get to work with such beauty. Internships are great but difficult to get as busy florists don’t have the time to train but keep trying, keep practicing at home and build up your flower knowledge, keep images of your work as opportunities do arise and it really is a wonderful job to have in your life. ✽