Floral Designing: The Now Profession

Do you want an exciting career where you may be creative, do your own thing & be paid for it? If so, floral designing may be for you!! The floral artist enjoys a very challenging and fulfilling career in which s/he helps people communicate through the medium of flowers. The talents of the floral designer are in great demand. The floral artist may choose to own his/her own business. The floral designer enjoys a unique professional status & works in a pleasant environment. The attractiveness of floral designing as a career is attested to by the fact that it is not uncommon for people with advanced college degrees who are working in other fields to retrain in order to enter the floral industry. Exciting, creative & pleasant....These are among the benefits of a floral designing career.

Flowers are important for all of us. They are used as an expression of love. They express hope & sympathy. They play an important role in the life span of individuals marking important occasions & events from birth to death. Flowers speak to one and all and flower arranging is an art that touches the emotions with incredible intensity.

In the past, florists merely sold flowers across the counter. Today's florist has gone far beyond that. The contemporary florist is a skilled floral designer who interprets the customer's requirements into floral designs for all occasions. S/he has to make new & different designs each day. S/he works with numerous combinations of different flowers, constantly synthesizing & developing new creations. The modern florist seeks challenge & thrives on originality. The floral field is alive & vibrant, challenging & fulfilling. The florist does his/her own thing, and in so doing brings meaning & happiness to others.

Opportunities For Floral Designers

There are many professional avenues for the floral artist to explore.

• Floral designers supervise decorations for parties, weddings & other festive occasions
• They may be involved in fields such as interior design where they play an important role in setting an atmosphere.
• The floral designer is in demand in supermarkets as a designer, floral buyer & as a manager florist.
• Many floral designers demonstrate & lecture before clubs & church groups.
• Some become involved in allied fields such as window display, catering, etc.
• Others get involved in floral wholesale operations.

The floral designer is an artist whose highly sought product is within the price range of the public. Through craftsmanship, ability & skill, s/he brings happiness to others.

You may also be interested in our article on:

Why Am I A Floral Designer?

How Smart People Are Making Money in The Floral Field and,

Floral Designing is Cool.

Working For Others or Yourself

One can work for others as a floral designer.

On the other hand, there are advantages in opening your own floral business. There is more incentive as it is your enterprise. A relatively small amount of capital is required to open and run a floral business.

Floristry can lend itself very well to home based businesses & varied lifestyles.

Retail florists earn a return on their investment because there is demand for their products & services.....Think about it.... Flowers & their design are in demand for life cycle events such as funerals & weddings, are important gift items for holidays such as Valentines Day, & Mothers Day. Florists carry all kinds of allied items such as dried & silk materials, gift baskets, stuffed toys & balloon products.

Disadvantages?

One disadvantage of the floral field is that on a busy day, a floral designer may have to put in long hours. Floral designers work during holidays, & the work load is often heavy at those times. It is a physical job, & requires turning out quantities of designs. The field also requires dealing with perishable merchandise. Because flowers are so pretty people often are deceived into thinking that this is an easy entry field. In actuality prerequisite training is very helpful to be able to produce & market designs & services effectively. A love of flowers, and manual dexterity are helpful. The person entering this field is well advised to get a good background in professional floral design & small business management.

Summary

We like to call floristry the "feel good field." That is because the floral designer is using his/her talents & skills to make others happy, and to meet their emotional needs, and in so doing feels good as well. Floral designers practice a very unique art form....the media being natural and lovely. The beauty of flowers add to the appeal of the floral designer's creations, and make a very pleasant way to spend ones work day. Floral designs evoke emotion, and help bring meaning, comfort, happiness & joy to important & even trivial events of life. The floral designer's job does require effort, for it is through craftsmanship, ability & skill that s/he brings happiness to others. There are many avenues of expression for the floral artist, ranging from working for others to running one's own business. If one is serious about making floral designing a career, prerequisite training is vital.