Creativity in bloom after COVID-19
EVENTS BUSINESS MAKES THE BEST OF A BAD SITUATION, TURNING A TEMPORARY SOLUTION INTO AN ONGOING OFFERING
FLORIST Erin Cusack is one of the bright business minds who pivoted their service during 2020 only to discover a more permanent expansion possibility.
The local mum and owner of Florette lost 100 per cent of her work overnight in mid-March when the global pandemic brought the wedding industry to its knees.
“There was a lot of shuffling, a lot of back and forth, a lot of venue changes as people went smaller and some venues shut down. The beginning was a juggle,” Ms Cusack said of the time.
“The first two weeks I was down in the dumps and thought ‘what do we do? We were successful, with an income, and now we have nothing’.”
Then she did the “2020 pivot” and Florette’s sister business Conserva Botanica – which focuses on everlasting dried arrangements – was born in April.
“I had been collecting bits and pieces of dried stuff from my wholesalers for a couple of months because I thought they were interesting and I just had them in my studio,” she said.
“I had a carer from my son’s daycare reach out because she felt bad knowing I was in the wedding industry and she wanted to know if I had any flowers that she could purchase. I didn’t have anything fresh but I said ‘I’ve got all these dried flowers I will make an arrangement’.
“She loved it and she showed her friends and bit by bit word spread.”
With Mother’s Day a few weeks away, Ms Cusack saw an opportunity to recoup some of her losses.
“I built a website in a couple of days and started an Instagram. For Mother’s Day I took 120 arrangement orders, which blew my mind,” she said. “People were wanting to make a nice gesture because they couldn’t see their mums and that support local movement really kicked in.
“Then I spent 12 hours delivering on Mother’s Day and my husband was in a separate car delivering for five hours, everywhere from the Bellarine to Melbourne.”
This year, Ms Cusack is set to experience what will essentially be a double wedding season as she services all the postponed events, alongside new bookings for couples who became engaged during 2020.
Next month, she has five weddings in three days.
“I am so optimistic. I am really blown away by how, at the turn of the new year, literally on January 1, inquiries just flooded in and I can’t keep up with quotes,” she said.
“It is beyond what I could have imagined given how last year went.
“Couples have more confidence and are continuing to plan, which is great.”
And even though she will have to pull back on it, Ms Cusack is eager to keep Conserva Botanica going.
“I love it because I feel like I have more creative freedom with
Conserva Botanica than I do with
weddings because when I approach a bride I say, ‘what do you want for your wedding?’ and with this I stand in my studio and do what comes to me so I really enjoy that about it.”
Her vision is to do a monthly upload of dried arrangements to the website so there is always some stock available, as well as taking custom orders when time permits.
The trends for wedding and event florals, she said, are similar to last year due to the postponements.
“Because so many couples are bringing forward what they had we are still really in that blush pink, white, pampas grass, boho trend,” she said. “I am also seeing a lot of white and green, really clean, really simple – I don’t know if it’s a budget thing or
because they are having to scale back but I am finding table centres are becoming really simple. People are putting their money towards an epic floral installation for their ceremony and keeping their tables bare minimum.”
“Some are even doing a fresh bouquet with elements of dried combining the two.”