Entrepreneur – Hybrid Flowers

This month we celebrate our fifteenth birthday. In fact, we can’t quite believe that we have been creating Hybrid floral designs in this amazing city of ours for fifteen whole years! We couldn’t think of a better way to honour the occasion than to re-post an interview our Caroline gave to Christchurch Creative earlier this year.

When the lifestyle and interiors journalists asked us to take part in their famous ‘15 minutes with…’ piece we were overwhelmed. Not only does their Style & Decor blog celebrate floral design, they also cover the creative industry as a whole, featuring some of the UK’s most successful independent furniture, interior and fashion designers, photographers, bloggers, stylists and retailers. To be one of their chosen few has certainly been one of our highlights!

So here it is, the past 15 years in the UK’s creative world, condensed into 15 minutes….

15 mins with…Caroline Ball of Hybrid florists

We catch up with Caroline Ball, co-founder of one of London’s leading florists, Hybrid Flowers, who created the florals for the St Paul’s Cathedral wedding of TV presenter Ade Adepitan and singer-songwriter ‘Elle Exxe’ last year. In this exclusive interview, Caroline reveals her favourite seasons for flowers, the latest floral trends and more here:

Tell us a bit about yourself and the team?

After studying Communication and Animation at Goldsmiths College, I was unsure of my next step. I thought it very unlikely that I would be paid to stand in gardens all day painting flowers. So I took a job working for a florist on Fulham Road. It didn’t take me long to realise that this was true happiness.

I could never wait to see the results of my work. However, in floristry, impatience is a perfect attribute as the flowers will not wait for you! You must make something beautiful quickly, before they die.

Whilst working in London, I kept bumping into this extravagant mad (and highly talented!) guy, Alan Simpson. He then become my best friend and business partner. Together, we started Hybrid and now employ 14 people from around the globe.

How and when did you set up Hybrid?

Call it “youthful optimism” but in my 20’s I decided I only needed few pounds a week to live on. So, with little to lose, I began my own corporate contracts for offices. Back then, I didn’t even have a driving license!

At the same time, Alan was asked by a gorgeous Anglo-Italian couple if he could create their wedding flowers. In fact, they were struggling to find someone who would work between Christmas and New Year. He conscripted me and together we worked non-stop over Christmas. So we created the most amazing Art Deco-inspired glamorous ‘Italian meets East End’ wedding in the Park Lane Hotel.

Following on from this success, I somehow convinced Alan that he didn’t need much money to live on either and he should come and work with me! He agreed (phew!) and, in 2004, Hybrid was launched. We have never looked back.

How would you summarise the work you do?

Alan and I are proud to be one of London’s top flower companies. In addition, it’s a great privilege to create beautiful arrangements for an astounding array of events, parties, weddings, hotels and offices.

Our team is magnificent; their knowledge, training and unique perspectives challenge and inspire us every day. Our work is custom-designed to the client; one day, we may create wedding flowers in Holland Park. Then the next day, a huge reception piece for a large bank in Canary Wharf.

Where are you based?

Nestled in the railway arches of London’s Vauxhall, our flower studio is the florist’s nirvana: space for props, vases and work benches; a cool temperature that flowers love and a creative office space for client meetings and team brainstorming. What’s more, it’s just a stone’s throw from our favourite suppliers at the Flower Market.

What types of floral arrangements do you make?

We turn our hands to making anything. Once, a client called to ask if we could create a laurel chaplet (like Olympians are given on the podium). They had been calling florists all over, but none knew how to make one. However, we knew exactly what to do owing to our training in traditional floristry techniques.

Can you tell us about some of your recent commissions?

A few months ago we created the florals for Ade Adepitan and Elle Exxe’s wedding at St Paul’s Cathedral and Queens House, Greenwich which was covered in Hello! Magazine. It was a wonderful brief covering Ade’s background from Nigeria and Elle’s Scottish roots. We could use any flowers as long as they clashed!

Recently, we created the table centres for Brockman’s Gin. These featured beautiful deep coloured black branches strung with candlelight, decorated with rich red foliages and our current favourite: beautifully patterned begonia leaves.

We also design and install Christmas décor for hotels and work with the most amazing festive colour schemes. Last year’s favourites were nude colours with caramel, apricot and silver.

How does a commission for a wedding or event vary from a corporate commission?

For weddings, most people have poured a lot of time and thought into planning this once in a lifetime event. We keep this understanding at the forefront of our minds and help our clients find the best way to achieve their dreams whilst keeping within their budget. Our aim is to be realistic and creative in equal measures.

For a corporate commission, the idea is for florists to use flowers to represent a brand or identity. But, more and more, an amazing corporate event is all about creating truly memorable experiences for the guest in which they may be transported to another world.

Do you have a favourite type of project to work on?

We love working on events which have a quirky element. Often our clients spend hours planning a major annual event and conjure up the most amazing brief. We love discussing their and our ideas and creating sample designs for them to view. It helps when the event is held at a amazing venue as we are then given access to view the most amazing spaces from behind the scenes.

Tell us about some of the buildings you have dressed?

As London florists, we have dressed many iconic buildings: from Parliament, The London Eye, The Gherkin, Tower Bridge, The Shard, Shakespeare’s’ Globe, Canary Wharf and anywhere in between. Our work has included dressing strip clubs in Soho, hotels on Park Lane, Castles in the country side and boats on the Thames. We are also on the suppliers list for The British Museum, the Museum of London, Queen’s House, Cutty Sark, Merchant Taylor’s Hall, The Royal Observatory. We will always be proud to be a floral supplier to St Paul’s Cathedral which, for us, is the most iconic building in London.

What are your favourite flowers to work with?

Honestly, we do not have favourites. Each flower has natural qualities that can be used to create something amazing. Some flowers are easier to work with than others. Some are perfect for long lasting installations whilst others are wonderful for an instant ‘wow’ factor.

Roses, if opened to perfection, will always look stunning. However, our studio will particularly appreciate any flower which appears delicate whilst having longevity!

How many different types of flowers do you work with?

On any given day, our suppliers have access to thousands of varieties of flowers from all over the world. Ecuadorian roses are stunning, Italian agapanthus are massive and British sweet peas are divine. As leading florists, we are constantly on the lookout for new varieties in unique colour combinations or shapes. Last year, we worked with the cymbidium growers Cy More Flavour and Marrewijk Amaryllis growers in Holland. It was so fascinating to hear all about the passion these family businesses put into creating new breeds of flowers.

What is your favourite season for flowers?

We love either early or late summer. Early summer brings the most beautiful fresh foliage and seeing fresh buds gives us the feeling of anticipation and joy – there is a reason that Chelsea Flower Show is in May. The colour of flowers becomes more intense in late summer: dahlias and chrysanthemums look like they’ve stored up the warmth of the summer sun in their petals, which are deep and rich. It is possible to source most flowers all year round. But, if they’re out of season, they can be expensive and never seem as vibrant and flavoursome (strawberries in February anyone?).

What is your preferred colour combination?

Some flowers look great on their own in a vase. For example, a big bundle of blue iris in bright, daylight-filled room can look stunning. However, sometimes you can create the most amazing combinations of colours by spotting a tiny fleck of colour in the throat of, say, an orchid, and placing a colour matched flower or leaf next to it that will really bring that out.

Which projects do you have in 2019?

We have some really exciting projects on the horizon. One in particular is a ‘Sustainability’ event showcasing planted elements, recycled containers and locally grown flowers combined with a fantastically kitsch leaf motif.

Any floral trends we should look out for this year?

People are becoming more and more aware that flowers, plants and foliages can be used to create a vibe, feeling or atmosphere – think more ‘installation’ than flowers in a vase.
Be on the lookout for dried flowers, quirky grasses, funky plants; there is nothing off limits and there never will be!

Where do you get your inspiration?

Often our aim is to recreate the great outdoors, inside. Perhaps a client’s childhood memory of a calm woodland filled with bluebells. It is so often about nostalgia. We also get our inspiration from other creative industries such as architecture, interior and graphic design and other iconic eras from history.

Do you have any top tips for wannabe florists?

We recommend finding out what being a florist is really like and being open to hearing the bad stuff. Floristry College is one option as is work experience: both training and experience are essential to getting a foot in the door. Many people only want to be events florists but you can’t only be a party florist without knowing how to do the less glamorous things.

Search the internet for blogs and articles on floristry or speak to local florists. When people say it is hard work, it is really, really hard work. Back-breaking, hand-ruining sleep-depriving and stress-inducing. There are no short-cuts, but if you’ve still not been put off, enroll in a floristry course that will give you work experience too. Choose a good course that will teach you the boring bits too. You need to know it.

….Spring 2019

So that’s it. Fifteen years in 15 minutes from the perspective of our Caroline. We cannot quite work out the precise date of our 15th Birthday (as how do you mark the very beginning of something any way?) but all we can say is that sometime in March 2004, all those years ago we started on our journey. We met some amazing people in that time and built the best network of wonderfully talented and dedicated people from suppliers, clients and florists who have come together over the years to make our little world go round…. here’s to the next 15!

When Clare McAndrew, Marketing Director of Story, invited us to speak on an expert panel at the London Summer Event Show, we thought to ourselves:

Well, we always love a chat, especially with other event industry creatives… but are we really that fascinating?…. and would our collective experiences be enough to inspire and advise a new generation of startups?

Clare reassured us:

Our audience would LOVE to hear your stories, especially as all of you brilliant suppliers started from nothing and went on to create something great… ! I guarantee that people would find what you have to say inspiring….. Oh and by the way the seminar is already fully booked!

It turns out, Clare was right! Alongside our Alan (Simpson Co-Owner of Hybrid) was Peter Gibbons, the dynamic owner of Lux Technical; Susannah Mountfort, the innovative Founder & Director of Gingerline & Flavourology and Taran O’Doherty the super cool Founder & Sales Director of Yahire. Despite each of these companies contributing to the events industry in very different ways we all had so much to say and all shared remarkably similar backgrounds and experiences.

And here are just three of them:

Having that Eureka moment!

Take Alan. Alan kind of fell into floristry, and I mean that quite literally! As a teenager, rehearsing for the local am-dram production in the Church Hall, he somehow managed to topple over one of two identical floral arrangements put there for a funeral due to take place that afternoon. Embarrassed and shocked, he did his best to reassemble the arrangement and amazingly, and somewhat to his surprise, he succeeded! No one could notice the difference between the original and the one he’d recreated! That was his calling! He enrolled himself on to a YTS and started his floristry training and the rest as they say, is ‘Zero to Hero’ history.

It would appear that we weren’t alone in local theatre acting as a catalyst for success. Peter Gibbons started his journey as a teenager volunteering for a local theatre where he developed his passion for lighting and sound. This led eventually to him buying the assets of a company whose owner was about to retire and Lux Technical was born. He now employs 10 full time staff and creates events for the most amazing clients including Google and War Child.

Susannah Mountfort’s unique idea was to fuse together art, performance, food, drink and design. On The Gingerline, guests are sent to a secret location for an evening of extraordinary performance, narrative, set design and amazing food. She has since created Flavourology and Chambers of Flavour, both offering multi-dimensional dining experiences. She even wrote her own piece of software which monitors dining guests moving through the interactive events space, this was later adapted for Starbucks.

After working for an event furniture hire company for a bit, Taran O’Doherty decided to set up his own business with his best friend from school. One night they both got drunk, pulled out a notepad did some rubbish drawings (his words not ours) and hey presto! Yahire was born. With no business plan or experience, very little money and no way of knowing how to would gain customers Taran and Ben bought 300 folding chairs and 30 trestle tables which they stored in Ben’s mum’s home. Yahire now employs 80 people and is the stand-out name in the industry.

Not giving a monkey’s

So! Sounds simple? Have an idea and hey presto, you’re an entrepreneur. But stop press… all is not as it seems! When asked about challenges along the way we all agreed on these:

#1: Getting people to take you seriously

Youth can be on your side, but if you’re starting up your own business, sometimes it can prevent people from believing in you. Peter came to London in his early 20s and agrees that ‘coming to London when not one of us were over the age of 25, was a challenge. You need people to know that you and your company were utterly capable and able to deliver no matter what.’

Susannah took it as a challenge when working with other non-event industries as some did not take her seriously. She wanted people to recognise an ambitious plan and believe in her idea. Fortunately, ‘the desire to prove anyone who said we couldn’t do it wrong was hugely motivating’.

#2: Being motivated

Having self-control and keeping focussed can be extremely challenging. As Taran explains: ‘As a leader, remembering your goals, and not get distracted is very challenging. After a couple of years, your new company becomes a job, and it can be tough to keep focussed and move in the right direction’.

#3: Loneliness

Setting up your own business can be lonely, even when there are two of you setting out to conquer the world.

Peter advises to ‘Build yourself a support structure: my family, friends and business mentors have been key as it is a very lonely place at the top, and it feels as if you are the only person feeling it’.

At Hybrid we’ve found that as our business has grown, our clients, suppliers and staff all become as precious as our own families, so before you know it you’ve created your clan of like-minded people!

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Yoda, Jedi Master

When Clare asked the panel what it is you need to set up your own business within the events industry: for Alan the answer was simple:

‘Passion. So many people come to us and say:

Oh I would have loved to have done that!

I say either go and do it, or stop talking about it!’

Taran agreed: ‘So many people deliberate or say they are going to do something and find excuses not to, but you have to believe you are capable of doing anything.’

Peter adds ‘Surround yourself with people who challenge you, if you are always hands on, you are never going to be able to scale it up, so bring people in who are better than you. The key to our success has been people, there is no two ways about it.’