Floral Design

How Long is Floral Design School?

While each trade school and program varies, it can take anywhere from five months to two years to obtain a floral design degree or certificate. Although the courses are longer, earning a two-year associate’s degree in floral design is a smart idea for those looking to start their own floral design business since they typically include classes in finance, marketing, and other entrepreneurial concepts.

What is Floral Design, Exactly?

Plant and floral design is the art of creating flower arrangements that look beautiful and convey a specific meaning or emotion. Where a traditional artist’s tools may consist of paint and brushes or clay and a chisel, a florist uses different flowers, leaves, greenery, and ornaments to make their colorful, expressive pieces.

Floral design styles run the gamut from classic Della Robbia and Botanical designs to the updated Bespoke Garden style that currently dominates the floral industry. Depending on which methods a florist learns, they can create a wide range of formal, fun, and abstract flower arrangements to suit each client’s unique specifications.

What Does a Floral Designer Do?

Depending on what their customers ask for, a florist might spend their day making a variety of different floral arrangements, including:

• Corsages and boutonnieres for students going to formal dances
• Bouquets and centerpieces for weddings, funerals, and other events
• Flower wreaths for lobbies and offices
• Indoor plant walls
• Vases of flowers for Mother’s Day, birthday, graduation, or retirement gifts

Creating a Concept

Some clients may choose a specific type or color of plant that they want to see in their arrangement. However, in many cases, they ask the florist for recommendations on which flowers they should select to convey a particular message. Floral designers use their knowledge of what emotions and ideals different plants represent and suggest these flowers to their customers.

Sharing Your Vision

Once the customer decides which plant types and colors they want in their arrangement, the floral designer may create a sketch of how the finished product will look. From there, they can adjust the design until the client is satisfied with the size, shape, price, and style of the arrangement.

Sourcing Materials

Many floral designers get their plants from local farms and plant nurseries, wholesalers, and flower auctions. However, some designers also grow various plants and flowers on-site. Florists who grow their own flowers must plant, fertilize, water, prune, and maintain their plants to ensure they stay healthy and beautiful.

Tools of the Trade

Whether they grow or purchase their plants, florists are responsible for cutting, bundling, and arranging the customer’s chosen flowers into a design that suits the client’s needs. To achieve this, floral designers use tools like:

• Floral scissors and knives
• Pruning shears
• Chicken wire or mesh for binding flower bouquets
• Wire cutters
• Vases, bowls, and other bases
• Floral foam to stick flower stems into
• Decorative ribbons and ornaments

What Experience Do You Need?

Working in the Industry

New floral designers often gain industry experience through on-the-job training. Working at a plant nursery, flower shop, or in the lawn and garden department of a supermarket can help you learn the names of various flowers and some tips on caring for and arranging them. Those who work under an experienced floral designer can gain even more knowledge about the industry.

Personal Interests

Certain hobbies can prepare you for floral design careers as well. For example, people who paint, work as makeup artists, enjoy graphic or interior design, or work with photoshop and other digital art programs typically like to experiment with different colors and textures, which can be helpful in floral design. Those who enjoy gardening or have taken botany classes also thrive in a floral design career.

What Skills Do You Need?

Understand Symbolism

Florists sometimes need extensive knowledge about what characteristics and ideals different plants represent. For example, some flowers symbolize joy, love, gratitude, friendship, and good wishes. Meanwhile, other blooms express grief, sympathy, sorrow, and mourning. Customers may ask for specific arrangements based on these meanings, so it’s important to know these details.

Art & Design Concepts

To make beautiful, eye-catching arrangements, florists also need an understanding of various art and design concepts, such as:

• Proportion: the relationship between the sizes of different flowers, foliage, containers, accessories, and other elements that go into a floral design
• Scale: how the overall size of a floral arrangement works in a particular setting, including how tall the flowers need to be to fit the container they’re in or how big a centerpiece should be to avoid crowding the table it’s on
• Harmony: choosing colors, textures, and materials that complement one another and suit the overall purpose of the design
• Unity: ensuring that the big-picture view of the design is as well-executed as the individual parts of the arrangement
• Rhythm: strategically positioning plants with specific colors, shapes, textures, and lines to create an appealing visual flow that directs the gaze as people look at the arrangement
• Balance: the visual symmetry and physical distribution of each leaf and flower as it contributes to the overall weight of the design
• Focal Points: emphasizing the main features of a floral design using dominating and contrasting materials

Interpersonal Skills

Talking to customers, networking with plant sellers, and negotiating prices for your services are all part of a floral designer’s daily routine. As such, strong communication skills are essential for professionals in this role. Some technological know-how can also be helpful for those who plan to create a website for their floral design business or use digital software for their bookkeeping needs.

Working Conditions

Where Do They Work?

Most floral designers work indoors, though florists with outdoor gardens may need to spend time outside maintaining and gathering the plants they need for their various projects. Depending on what types of plants you have, you may need to spend significant time in humid greenhouse areas and walk-in coolers where you store flowers to keep them fresh and colorful.

Floral designer jobs require working with sharp tools and thorny or prickly plants like roses and cacti. Florists can sometimes injure themselves when working with these items, so it’s essential that you wear protective gloves, keep your tools sharp and rust-free, and give yourself plenty of time to carefully work on your floral arrangements.

Events & Holidays

Although the demand for floral designers usually peaks during gift-giving holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, florists work year-round. Customers planning weddings and other events or simply wanting to spruce up their homes or offices with a unique flower arrangement may need a floral designer’s services at any time.

Proper time management skills are crucial for handling the busy seasons.