Floral design expert reveals the key to creating stunning, minimalist arrangements - the selection of perfect vases plays a crucial role.
Sarah Statham Embraces Sustainable Floristry in West Yorkshire
Sarah Statham, a former criminal lawyer turned florist, is making waves in the world of sustainable floristry with her business, Simply By Arrangement, based near Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire.
Established in 2013, Sarah's floristry journey began as a weekly ritual. She started buying flowers as a marker of the end of the working week, a means to pursue her dream of working with flowers. Today, her floral creations are a testament to her passion and commitment to sustainability.
Sarah's approach to arranging flowers is intuitive, free-flowing, and always in tune with the season. She cultivates her own flowers in raised beds, reducing the carbon footprint by avoiding long-distance flower transport. Her designs reflect seasonality, reducing reliance on out-of-season flowers often shipped from far away.
A key sustainable technique Sarah uses is foam-free arranging. She avoids floral foam, a common but non-biodegradable and environmentally harmful material, opting instead for methods that align with sustainable principles.
Sarah's floristry is also characterized by waste reduction. Her Instagram post, "Waste not want not," indicates her careful use of materials to minimize floral waste. She repurposes flowers from one display to the next, adapting her technique to the shape and size of the vessel she has chosen.
In her workshops and mentoring sessions, Sarah emphasizes the meditative process of arranging flowers. She encourages participants to consider the empty spaces between flowers, the available foliage, flower types, stem lengths, and the intended location of the arrangement.
Sarah's flower arrangements often use a variety of vessels and repeated palettes of flowers. She suggests using cylindrical vases or grouping bud vases for a charming display. For larger or taller vessels, chicken wire is effective for support.
Sarah's website, simplybyarrangement.co.uk, provides details for her workshops and retreats. She prefers to work with locally grown flowers, which she believes always look beautiful, even without arrangement.
In a world where sustainability is increasingly important, Sarah Statham is a shining example of a florist committed to reducing environmental impact while creating stunning, natural, and seasonal floral displays.
Sarah's floristry lifestyle, rooted in West Yorkshire, promotes home-and-garden sustainability by growing her own plants and flowers in raised beds. Her fashion-and-beauty-inspired flower arrangements are a reflection of her environment, with seasonal designs that minimize reliance on out-of-season flowers. She advocates for the home-and-garden principle of waste reduction, repurposing flowers and adopting foam-free arranging methods, aligned with sustainable living.
