Florist Grace Farrimond has been chosen to showcase her expertise at this year’s highly prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Grace, pictured, principal florist and founder of Bradford-on-Avon-based Young Blooms, is one of just a handful of independents selected from across the country to exhibit at what is regarded as the UK’s most well-regarded horticultural event of the year.
With more than two decades’ experience, Grace is hugely passionate about passing on her skills and expertise to others to open up the floristry industry more fully.
Some 10,000 accounts subscribe to her YouTube channel for practical tips and insight, while Young Blooms supports a regional and national client base with bespoke floral creations for all occasions.
Grace will be exhibiting a unique interpretation of a strangler (fig) tree at the Chelsea Flower Show, working in collaboration with Trowbridge-based carpenter Craig Cutlan-Wilson, pictured below with Grace, to bring her creative vision to life.
Built around a 7ft-tall wooden structure, it will be made using solely British flowers and incorporate compost produced daily out of food waste gathered from across Wiltshire.
Fully compostable and natural floral foam will be used to house all of the cut flowers, which will in turn be housed inside recycled cardboard wine bottle containers.
The exhibit itself will also be fully compostable, with the aim of giving back to the land afterwards.
Grace believes, with its themes of resilience and survival against the odds, it will resonate with many visitors after the unsettling global events of the past few years.
“Having the opportunity to exhibit for the first time at RHS Chelsea really is a dream come true for me as an independent florist,” she said.
“I believe this exhibit will be both visually arresting and completely unexpected for visitors to this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.
“Bringing it to life is so far out of my comfort zone will truly stretch my creative abilities – and I am really excited for that challenge.
“I want to create something at Chelsea that looks like it’s been there forever, and deliver a striking contrast between a tree that’s most commonly found deep in Asian jungles and native British grown flowers that are, literally, home grown.
“Nature is truly incredible, and this installation should serve as an opportunity for us to admire it, in all of its unexpected imperfections.”
She said she wanted to creatively capture the essence of resilience.
“The strangler tree can be created simply by a bird dropping a seed that ultimately spawns life against the odds,” she added.
“We’ve had to be so resilient as a society in recent years; this installation looks to recognise the importance of never giving up, even during dark or uncertain times.”
A two-time Creative Bath Awards winner, Grace has carved out a strong professional reputation for creative excellence in floristry since founding Young Blooms in 2007.
She also demonstrated great resilience over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic by successfully diversifying from a traditional floristry service to a multi-channel skills provider, delivering online training courses and building up thriving communities of aspiring florists with a passion for creating joyful displays.
She has also previously been listed within f:entrepreneur’s list of #ialso100 inspiring female business leaders, and has been a finalist in the national Small Awards run by Small Business Britain.
This year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show takes place between Monday 22 May – Saturday 27 May.
Photo of Grace and Craig Cutlan-Wilson by Fox and Beau Photography
