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Episode 120: Francoise Weeks                                

Botanical Brouhaha Expert Discussion Panel: No. 66

The Question:

Can you describe your studio/work space? Do you have a cooler? How many employees/designers work in your space?

The Answers:

My studio is currently on the side of my house overlooking trees. Having my garden at hand when designing is essential. I can cut when I need to, I can get into a creative swing without any disruptions from anyone (customers), and wonder off into my meadow to talk to my chickens & ducks when need be.

Jo Flowers

Jo Flowers

My studio is a very light and cool space, but flowers are not stored here in the summer. Instead, they are stored in a dark cold lobby. Sometimes I leave flowers at room temp to allow to open and bend towards the light. I have various spaces around my home that are good for allowing flowers to ‘do their thing’.

Jo Flowers

If the weather allows me, I love to work outdoors also, preferring the natural light.

Jo Flowers

I don’t have any workers here with me, but when doing wedding’s I design at the venue a lot of the time, so meet other designers on site.

Jo Rodwell (Jo Flowers) Images courtesy of Joanna Millington

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Our studio is in a past great room in our home. There are sliding doors that separate it from the rest of the house, allowing me to get away every once in a while (probably not so fun for some of the children because their bedrooms are over the studio). We have a 10’ by 14’ walk in cooler that is set on a deck just outside of the room. French doors were removed from the room and you can walk right into the cooler. The room also has a water room or prep room where we store all of the oasis and mechanics we need for designing.  We have two 8 foot long design tables in the space (one is 30 inches wide and one is 42 inches wide). Everyone loves the 42 inch wide table the best because we can pile buckets of flowers onto the center of the table and still have lots of space for designing. A few years ago my husband built us additional design space in the basement and we have another Coolbot 10’ by 14’ cooler down there. We typically only over flow into that space when we are really humming. Most times the basement and cooler are full of inventory. In addition, we have a small shed that holds lots of glassware. Large props like Chuppahs and columns are stored in Evan’s barn. We currently have two acres and grow a lot of the flowers we use in our designs. We are a registered agricultural business with the state of Virginia. In the coming months we are looking to grow our studio space and our gardens. We need to get our inventory all in one place and organized.

Holly Chapple (Holly Heider Chapple Flowers)

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When I ran out of space in the basement  after being in business for 5 years, we had a small, yet efficient studio  (320sq ft) built in the backyard. I was very lucky that the architect understood what I wanted from the very little information that I gave him: the studio had to be in the same style as the house, simple with a lot of natural light and I really wanted a double door after hauling large arrangements through the basement door for 5 years. My husband built all the furniture in the studio.

Francoise Weeks

Francoise Weeks

Francoise Weeks

Francoise Weeks

Francoise Weeks

Francoise Weeks

Francoise Weeks (Francoise Weeks)

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We work at our farm for all our design work since it makes going out to cut some extra stems of something while in mid-design super easy and a lot of fun. I had a pre-built shed designed and brought to place onsite, and then I put in custom-made folding counters and shelving to make the work space flexible and efficient.

Love 'n Fresh Flowers

Love 'n Fresh Flowers

Love 'n Fresh Flowers

Right out the door from the shed is our large, free-standing walk-in cooler, making shuffling around the freshly-harvested flowers and the finished designs easy. When considering my choices back when I was thinking about building a design space at the farm, I thought about all the physical steps that have to be taken in the course of designing and I tried to minimize them. So this meant that the design space is actually rather small, but by no means cramped. We produce several weddings a weekend out of this space without any problem. There are anywhere from two to five designers working in the space for event work and we can spill out onto the lawn under the trees to set up work space for several more if needed. We also hold our classes and design workshops in this space, which has worked perfectly as well. We can easily handle 10 students in the space since they don’t usually need as much room to spread out as our professional staff.

Jennie Love (Love ‘n Fresh Flowers)

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My studio is 25 sqm divided into a large room where I create and a tiny one where I have water and a sink. I mostly work alone or have one additional designer to help me (on large events I usually work on site rather than in my studio) and do not accept visitors in my studio. It usually is a mess, as I tend to have bad habits known to creative people… So these pictures tend to show details to avoid showing too much of my mess! 🙂 I have no cooler. It’s not necessary as my studio is situated in a old stone house which I can easily keep below 25°C in summer, and when it becomes really too hot, I store the flowers in my basement. Lighting is very important to me, so there are windows on all sides for the room and I have two large lamps suspended above the table with photography daylight type bulbs.

Floresie

Floresie

A very large mirror is installed on one side of the room, reflecting the light and allowing me to take some distance to check my designs without having to walk away from them.

Floresie

I store some of my (much too large) collection of vintage vases and containers directly in the studio and some more as well as contemporary large vases in another room.

Floresie

Floresie

Floresie

Floresie

Floresie

Laetitia Mayor (Floresie)

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My studio space is a little carriage house located behind main street in my hometown. It is approx. 400 square feet and I use every inch of that space!

Blush Floral Design

Blush Floral Design

I also have a barn at my house that I use to store containers, chuppahs, and other rental items. I usually have 4 designers working in the space and I have one 3-door cooler. We also have a back patio that we can spill out onto for big weddings. It took a long time to find the ideal space!

Elisabeth Zemetis (Blush Floral Design)

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I have an 1,800 square foot studio located on a business park about 10 minutes drive from Glasgow City Centre. We’ve been in this space for 8 years (the first 4 years were in a retail space).

Mood Flowers

Our team consists of 4 staff and for larger weddings and events we can have up to 8 people working in the space.

Mood Flowers

Mood Flowers

Mood Flowers

It is very much a “working” space with 6 very large work benches rather than a “pretty” space; however, we have been known to tidy it up for our own in-house wedding events and client entertainment.

Mood Flowers

We also have a separate well appointed consultation room in one corner with large glass windows that overlooks the workspace. The climate in Scotland is temperate – never too hot or too cold so we don’t have or need a cooler – more often than not we have lilies, peonies and freesia in a warmer room to get them to open in time.

Nick Priestly (Mood Flowers)

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I love this post because I feel like you can learn so much about an artist by his or her workspace! While writing the post, I began reminiscing about the studio I once built and ran from my home. I wrote a post about it in 2010. If you’d like a tour, click here.

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  1. What a grat post. I just love seeing how other designers create an environment that supports their creativity!

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