Floral Essay #2

My stance on why funeral flowers shouldn't be boring.

It sounds pretentious but I treat my floristry like an art form. And one thing I wholeheartedly believe makes art ‘good’ is that you want to keep looking.

What makes floral designs ‘bad’? I think it’s very personal. But for me, I’m left feeling flat when I look at a piece and after a 30 seconds I’m not going to spot anything new. This is how premade bouquets from supermarkets make me feel. (You absolutely can take these home, get out a pair of snips, a good vessel and make floral art with them! However, other florists may vehemently disagree with me.)

This flat feeling is how I feel with most funeral flowers. I think the UK’s general fear of talking about death and dying has been projected onto funeral flowers. It’s like it was decided we have to make them as quickly and quietly as possible, with boring and bland flowers, never showcase them and generally pretend like we don’t offer funeral flowers, because we’re all fearties about death.

I believe considered, heartfelt designs are the antidote.

This week, in the UK, it is Dying Matters Awareness Week. The topic is how we talk about death and dying, focusing on the language we use and the conversations we (don’t) have about death. So it seemed fitting to share a floral casket I created that I’m particularly proud of. The theme was natural and country garden kind of style. Looking at the images I feel ‘orchestrated chaos’ sums it up nicely.

Ingredients:

• Pink delphinium

• Pink stocks

• Snowflakes

• Yellow roses

• Mint

• Pink ranunculus

• Mixed foliages

I would love to know your thoughts on the subject. Did this whole essay make you squirm? Or does talking about death come fairly easy to you?

With love,

Sarah x