Tell us about what it was like to design a floral mannequin to be placed next to such an iconic monument?

Fig & Bramble: It was pretty nerve wracking to design a floral mannequin for the first time, to be photographed in such an iconic setting. We took comfort in the fact that if humans could move 40 tonne stones hundreds of miles, before mechanisation, we could probably manage to design something reasonably pretty!

Featherstone: What a fabulous, unusual and special challenge this was. It’s an experience that so few have ever had before. To place our finished mannequin up by Stonehenge at dawn really was quite a magical experience, and an honour. Seeing flowers placed in an unusual and iconic location is quite inspiring and yet somehow felt quite right as we were working with natural materials.

‍

‍What was a challenge you faced when designing your floral mannequin?

Fig & Bramble: For the Grand Stonehenge Dahlia Show, we had to use dahlias prolifically, which are dependent on a water source, so it was challenging to incorporate plenty of dahlias, in water, that could also be replaced after a few days. We managed to design a wired skirt with recycled plastic bottles fixed to it, to act as a water source for the flowers. At least one dahlia was placed into each bottle, to act as a marker when we came to refresh the water.

Featherstone: This was quite different to anything that we have tackled before, but, as usual we relished the challenge and the whole team pulled together. Our business has sustainability at its core, so we embraced that as much as we could. Working with the ingredients that the farm provided us really helped shape the design in the first place. I think the main challenge was how to create the structure and attach thousands of tiny pieces of dried flowers  in the time that we had. Moving the finished mannequins was quite a feat as well!

Did you learn anything new from this experience?

Fig & Bramble: While we love dahlias, and they remain popular with our wedding couples, they’re often difficult to work with in bouquets as their heads tend to face forward on their stems. We learned this feature is surprisingly useful in a floral art design; they cover a large surface area and you can actually see the bloom in all its beauty, making them more useful than upright flowers like roses or carnations. On the history front, we got to see close-up just how precisely some of the sarsen sandstone stones were carved. For example, the Heel Stone has extraordinarily straight edges, to emphasise the accuracy with which the sun rises and shines through the stones at the Summer Solstice.

Featherstone: Creating our mannequin really showed us that we can do anything we set our minds to, and helped boost confidence in ourselves. We were immensely proud of the finished mannequin (which we named Doris) and the fact that every bit of plant material used was grown on our farm.

‍

What’s next for your floral studios? Any big projects or trends coming up?

Fig & Bramble: After a busy summer of weddings, we are now looking forward to Christmas in our beautiful Grade II listed 18th century barn, where we host gorgeous wreath making workshops. We continue to see a demand for seasonally attuned flowers, from gift bouquets to wedding florals. Our clients are increasingly recognising the benefits, both in beauty, cost and sustainability, of seasonality-led design.

‍Featherstone: We are currently busy preparing for Christmas installations, which are all looking quite traditional, with warm earthy tones for us. At the farm we are creating a stunning new garden surrounding our 550 year old barn, for use in our floristry and for hosting workshops.

Are there any movies, TV series, books or music you love that incorporate flowers in a beautiful way?

Fig & Bramble: Gemma loves The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - so much so that an excerpt was read at her wedding! The concept of an ever-evolving, rambling garden, is a repeated theme in our designs and Frances’ descriptions are wonderful:

“Sometimes since I've been in the garden I've looked up through the trees at the sky and I have had a strange feeling of being happy as if something was pushing and drawing in my chest and making me breathe fast. Magic is always pushing and drawing and making things out of nothing. Everything is made out of magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us. In this garden - in all the places”

Oddly, (and we swear we’ve only just realised this!) our floral mannequin was also named “Frances”, after a portrait of Frances Drewe at Castle Drogo in Devon.

For Adele, it’s the Flower Fairies series by Cicely Mary Barker. Adele's late Grandmother had a set at her cottage and Adele always looked forward to hearing them. She remembers that being her first appreciation of garden flowers as Adele's grandmother would tell her the fairies changed the flower beds with the seasons. Adele now loves to share the books with her Goddaughter, who likes to believe that we, as florists, work with the fairies!

‍

Featherstone: Ah, I love this question! Our team had a nice range of answers for this one. The book The Secret Garden is loved by everyone here so that has to go at the top of the list! The song, ‘I Could Be A Florist’ by Olivia Dean we felt encapsulated our feelings about our work well, and ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’, recently covered by Ed Sheeran, is romantic and beautiful. For TV programs, Downton Abbey and The Crown often show beautiful seasonal arrangements.