Welcome to the future of floristry. London’s leading luxury florist, Ethereal Blooms, specialises in real, bio preserved flower arrangements and bouquets, providing beautiful, sustainable traditional flower alternatives to hospitality businesses. 

How did Ethereal Blooms first start, what does the business do, and how did you develop your bio-treatment?

Ethereal Blooms is a luxury florist specialising in bio preserved arrangements that last up to a year. Myself and Erni Visser started the company in 2019 after searching for that one thing that combined all of the things we love; beauty, luxury, sustainability, and science.

When we discovered preserved flowers we knew that this was the way in which we would make a difference to one of the most wasteful industries in the world in terms of CO2 emissions per product - the fresh flower market. Our combined scientific backgrounds (Erni is a Cambridge educated veterinary surgeon and I studied biochemistry), plus our interest in all things luxury, puts us in a unique position to create what we believe are the flowers of the future. Real flowers, bio preserved to last up to a year with no maintenance and no water required.

By working with growers and producers to refine and perfect bio preservation techniques (where the water is extracted and replaced with natural oils) we create the most exquisite luxury floral displays and installations whilst reducing waste and saving our clients considerable amounts of money and time.

Maintaining and replacing weekly fresh floral bouquets in any hospitality setting is a hassle. From organising the logistics of weekly flower deliveries, to using staff’s precious time maintaining and cleaning the floral displays, it’s just another item on an already crowded to do list. Switching to preserved flowers takes floral displays from a weekly annoyance to a quarterly or bi-annual task.

Our clients love that we can create unique arrangements to perfectly suit their interiors, whilst helping them to meet their sustainability targets and decreasing their usual floral spend by up to 75% a year. 

Was sustainability always a core part of your offering?

Ethereal Blooms was founded on the principle of making luxury florals sustainable. By choosing to work exclusively with the most environmentally friendly fresh flower alternative we are able to offer the same luxury experience with a fraction of the environmental impact.

We are constantly researching and developing new ways of limiting our environmental impact and it is a consideration in every decision we make as a business.

What does sustainability look like in the floristry sector, and does it ever clash with a luxury service?

Sustainability in the floristry sector for us looks like limiting the environmental impact of fresh flowers predominantly by increasing their shelf life and reducing waste – all without sacrificing their beauty.

The environmental impact of fresh cut flowers is enormous. Cultivated using pesticides, fungicides, fertilisers, and huge amounts of water, they are then stored and transported in refrigerated containers all over the world, with up to 45% wastage along the way for a 7-10 day shelf life.

According to a Life Cycle Analysis of your average supermarket bouquet (A comparative LCA of the carbon footprint of cut-flowers: British, Dutch and Kenyan - Rebecca Swinn) the CO2 emissions per bouquet are at around 32.35kg of CO2. To put that in perspective, flying from Paris to London in economy class takes 58kg of CO2 per passenger. 

Using preserved flowers instead of fresh cut drastically limits this environmental impact. Refreshing your floral displays only a few times annually limits the impact of that journey to a handful of times a year, compared to 52

Does this make the flowers less luxurious? We think it makes them MORE luxurious! Luxury items last. When you invest in a statement piece, you want to know that love and care has gone into making sure that your investment will retain its value and beauty over time. This is exactly what we’re doing, and the luxury brands that we work with such as Bulgari, Dries Van Noten and De Beers all agree.

What kind of work do you do with hospitality businesses? 

We work with a range of hospitality businesses, from restaurants to hotels to superyachts supplying anything from showstopping lobby displays to tabletop centrepieces, sculptural archways, preserved trees or greenery.

Increasingly we are being consulted at the design stage. With flowers that will last up to a year, they are no longer a disposable afterthought, but are akin to semi-permanent art pieces or installations. Preserved florals can even be encapsulated to last even longer in structural elements such as walls, floors, ceilings or even furniture pieces.

We love working with interior designers to create impact in new ways – fresh flowers are limited in their applications due to their short lifespan and need for constant water and maintenance. However, with preserved flowers, suddenly archways, hanging pieces, or even floral sculptures are on the design table in a low maintenance and sustainable way.

Green walls are a great example. For a living green wall, a continuous dedicated water supply is required. This takes precious energy, money, and time to install and maintain. With a preserved green wall, you have the luxury impact of real foliage and flowers, without any of the associated maintenance headaches or costs.

What will you be showcasing at HRC 2023?

We’re so excited to attend HRC 2023. We will be showcasing some of our most popular preserved tree options, our green flower walls and of course, beautiful floral arrangements.

Whether you’re looking for simple bud vase arrangements for your restaurant tables or want to wow with lobby flowers that make a lasting impression – we’re excited to discuss the possibilities that preserved flowers can offer the hospitality sector.