MY WORLD: PETALON FLOWERS
ELLE meets the couple behind the Insta-perfect floral service and explores their east London home.
My introduction to the Kennedys, the husband-and-wife duo behind Instagram-friendly floraldelivery service Petalon Flowers, is a teeny, sandalled foot in my face. ‘Sorry, she wants to say hello,’ laughs dad James, as he holds onto their one-year-old daughter Clover. Mum Florence scooches onto the seat, sandwiching the toddler between them. It’s a photogenic setup, with a matchy-matchy palette of warm sand and camel – including Huxley, the Great Dane making them a family of four.
You’ll see a lot of Clover, bouncing on the back of ‘Hux’, in between shots of Florence’s mail-order bouquets on Petalon’s Instagram (@petalon_flowers). It’s a floral feed that mixes work and play – just like their home, where, alongside their florist business, they run The Old Dairy, an events space and photography studio in east London. ‘We have lived in fairly normal places in the past,’ Florence laughs, even though for now, home is a sparse 220-square-metre gallery space filled with quirk and character.
Despite the camera crews, James insists that ‘it absolutely feels like home’. And he’s Photographs right. Rose-gold by accessories warm up the walls, while reclaimed O fu L rn I itu V re I aAnd DIY projects fill the rooms – a testament to the couple’s craft skills (James fixes up the bikes
DA COSTA that Florence’s carefully arranged flowers are delivered on). ‘The building looked like shit when we first saw it,’ Florence admits,
but as they give me a tour, you’d never guess the windows were smashed in, the walls graffitied and the floors a Pollock pastiche of chewing gum. ‘We had to do everything,’ she says, including patching up a tin roof over the garden where Florence hosts Petalon workshops. As you’d expect, flowers and succulents are spread throughout the space. ‘James loves his indoor plants,’ Florence explains, and these rare blooms come from a supplier in Bath, kept alive with a strict watering schedule. ‘The secret is Google Calendar,’ says James. ‘It’s colour coded and everything.‘
The decor is mostly vintage, with the exception of a rose-goldtoned bed frame from MADE, and Clover’s IKEA cot. ‘They’re probably the only new pieces of furniture we have,’ says James. ‘This isn’t our forever home,’ adds Florence. ‘We’re quietly aware that everything we buy for this place will come with us wherever we go next.’ So they invest in pieces they can easily move, such as the delicate floral paintings in the kitchen by artist Alicia Gale – and felt portraits of Huxley, who’s pictured above the dresser in Clover’s room. Florence laughs, pre-empting the assumption that she’s ‘that kind of dog woman’ with a framed 3D version of Huxley’s head: ‘It was a present from James’s mum. It is amazing, though.’
‘All our flooring decisions have been based around Hux,’ she continues. ‘We have to have rugs, rather than carpets, or the place would look like Huxley,’ adds James. Wardrobe decisions, too – both admit the sandy palette of their outfits is because of him.
You can really see their stamp on the place in the kitchen, where the raw plaster walls are lined with art and copper pots. ‘We spend most of our time in the kitch-itting room,’ James laughs, ‘So cooking has become a social thing.’ ‘I hate cooking,’ Florence admits. ‘I’m famously a pasta, ketchup and cheese woman. We live by Anna Jones’s cookbook.’ ‘We became vegetarian together, so it’s great for that.’ And for Clover, who’s trialling different textures with food from the same book – minus the salt.
At the end of the day, the couple spill into the studio space, settling in front of a projector and fireplace to binge-watch Blue Planet. ‘If anyone asks, we’re watching cerebral Scandi-noir,’ they laugh. They’re also dancing to their own tune, literally, entertaining Clover with a cello James bought on eBay. Clover has a knack for music, just like mum and dad. You can tell by the way she rhythmically taps wooden toys on the table as we talk. ‘It keeps her entertained,’ James says. Until her partner-in-crime Huxley pads by again.
“This isn’t our FOREVER home. We’re quietly aware that EVERYTHING
we buy for this place will COME WITH US wherever
we go NEXT ”