A Q&A with Curated Botanics’ family team of Abbey, Heather and John who are taking a fresh approach to faux flowers with the launch of their highly anticipated 2022 Christmas Collection.
Tell us how your faux flower business came about?
ABBEY: As an interior designer with Abbey Lang Home, I always see space for beautiful flowers in clients’ homes. I’m a big believer that botanicals are an important finishing touch in most spaces, helping houses feel like home. As much as we love fresh flowers, the downside is that after a week or so, they’ve finished their life and leave an empty space. Fortunately, I have the most incredibly talented sister, Heather, who’s an experienced florist with a fine arts degree in floral sculpture, while my husband John has a sales and marketing background. He was ready for a new challenge and had been keen to build a family business for a long time. So, we all created Curated Botanics.
Heather, you’ve worked as a florist for 20 years, how have you found the switch from working with fresh to faux?
HEATHER: Although I love fresh flowers, there are so many benefits to using faux stems, and the quality of the stems has come such a long way that most people assume our arrangements are real. My experience with fresh flowers does make me very picky in choosing what we work with, and I’m always naturally drawn to the flowers or foliage that are most true to nature. I do get great satisfaction in being able to design our arrangements with the vases or vessels and knowing that these will get placed as is for a permanent art piece in someone’s home or workplace. I also love that when I have a specific brief for an arrangement in a home, for wedding flowers, or for corporate displays, I’m not restricted by what’s in season. I can source stems in various sizes, colours, and styles, which allows me to be quite particular. Faux also takes us beyond flowers and we make plenty of foliage-based arrangements and have potted indoor plants and trees as part of our offerings.
As a young business, how has covid impacted you? Have there been some benefits such as fresh flower prices becoming so high?
JOHN: We’re growing steadily since launching the business two-and-a-half years ago, which was just before the first lockdown in Auckland. Although there have been challenges – which most businesses have experienced – opportunities have also arisen which have certainly assisted us in building the business and brand. People have spent more time at home and have wanted to invest in a few special pieces that bring them joy through what has been a tough few years. Being an online business, we’ve also benefited from the increased attention on social media which has provided the platform for people to discover and get to know us.
Tell us about your recently launched Christmas Collection?
A: Each year we design a limited range of wreaths, garlands and Christmas arrangements so that people can make their homes that extra bit special for the festive season. We aim to capture ‘Kiwi summer Christmas’ in our designs and this year’s collection consists of six ranges including: Jingle Bells of traditional red and green; White Christmas which comprises classical white and green; the beach house vibe of Coastal; Foraged, for a gathered garden feel; and Hot Summers Day – think hot pinks in a refined style.
How are these produced and how do they last?
H: Our small team make all wreaths and garlands by hand – meaning lots of cutting, tying and gluing – using many individual stem components that we spend most of the year sourcing. The handcrafted nature means that no two pieces are ever identical, but this adds to the charm. We include storage/gift boxes with each piece so customers can store them and use for many Christmases ahead – we see them as heirloom pieces which customers can add to from year to year.
The Christmas tablescapes with the garlands and centrepieces look beautiful – are the supporting items also available for purchase?
A: Yes, we design the various styles of tablescapes with the goal of making it as easy as possible to recreate the look in your home for Christmas or dinner parties. So essential items like candlesticks, napkin rings, hurricane vases, brass bells, napkins, styling trays, tablecloths, and even the sprigs are all available for purchase.
Is there anything else exciting in the pipeline?
J: Beyond our website summer new releases, we look forward to growing our service offerings around bespoke work; in-home viewings allowing the arrangements to be brought into your home for testing in position; gift-box collections; and working with some partners on brand collaborations.
