‘Flowers always put a smile on your face’

Nikki Tibbles is CEO of florist Wild At Heart and welcomes a rise in people sending flowers during the lockdowns.

No one taught me how to put a bouquet together. I have somehow always known instinctively what to put with what, and I quite like the fact that I have no rulebook. Even now, 28 years after I set up Wild At Heart having done the flowers for a friend’s wedding, I don’t generally employ people who are trained in floristry, because I think there’s a lot to be said for that innate knowledge. Wild At Heart is all about thinking differently.

In almost all my childhood photos, I’m outside, usually with my dogs. At school, nature walks were my favourite thing. Even now, I could spend 10 hours a day outside easily, with no worry about the weather. Growing up, I initially wanted to be a vet but, after realising I didn’t quite have the brains for it, I instead went into advertising after university as it offered me the opportunity to be creative.

I’ve always had a love of fashion, architecture and colour. For me, flowers are a part of that. This passion was why I eventually gave up my advertising job to work in a small flower shop in south London. As I had no experience, the manager sent me to a floristry evening class.

One week, we had to make a fake water lily out of a pair of white tights and I remember thinking, ‘I am never, ever going to do this.’ And, six months later, I decided to set up on my own.

I got myself a small studio in east London and spread the word by networking with the clients I’d worked with at various advertising agencies. When I heard there was a market stall structure at Turquoise Island, in Notting Hill, I put in an application, went for an interview and was given the keys then and there. We now also have a shop at Liberty London, but the striking turquoise building remains our most iconic outlet.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

I like the fact that I have no rulebook

As time went on, we diversified into providing flowers for hotels, events, weddings and landscaping for Bicester Village shopping centre. One very early highlight was a fashion event, during which I met Anna Wintour at Claridge’s hotel. That was quite a moment – she was fabulous.

In lockdown, we lost a lot of contracts. All we had left were online sales. However, we’ve seen a rise in people sending flowers and I’m not surprised – they always put a smile on someone’s face. We have broadened our online service so that even if your wedding is just six people, we can do table arrangements and bouquets. We have a subscription model now, too, where people can sign up for weekly flowers.

Alongside the business, I launched the Wild At Heart Foundation, which works with dog shelters worldwide. We’ve re-homed 2,000 dogs since 2017. I have four dogs, all of which were deemed unadoptable!

I sometimes wish I had more hours in the day, but with both my ventures I’m so lucky to have amazing, talented teams, and I absolutely love what I do. We’re now looking for premises from where we’ll send out online orders, so people can see our florists working, plus we’ll have a café and events space.

For more info, visit wildatheart.com, wildatheartfoundation.org