Winter in Bloom: Q1 2025 Creative Round-Up
I know. It’s late May and I’m talking about winter. But if you’re based in Toronto like me, you know how unpredictable the weather can be. While we all grumble at gloomy skies, I wanted to take a quick look back at the first quarter of the year at Make Lemonade, my boutique floral design studio.
Winter is typically a quieter season for many Northern Hemisphere florists, a time to reset, refresh our studios, or escape the ungodly temperatures (I squeezed in some travelling myself!). Between trips to Marrakech and Paris, I brought some flower magic to life that reflect my colourful and personal approach to floral design. From community workshops to luxury brand events, these projects are proof that floral creativity doesn’t hibernate in the cold.
Be Your Own Valentine Workshop
This isn’t a secret: Valentine’s is my favourite day in the whole entire year. When else is there a day dedicated to flowers, chocolate, and l.o.v.e? There isn’t! To me, this day is about self-love first, then outwardly love to friends, family and romantic partners. This is exactly why I teamed up with my friend event planner and Jill of all trades, pal Kirsti to bring a Be Your Own Valentine workshop to life.
We hosted an evening of floral arranging, self-care treats, grazing, and meaningful connections - all dedicated to celebrating the most important valentine of all: yourself! Taking over the Summerhill Event Bouquet was an absolute dream; dekking out the giant island with tasty charcuterie from Olive and Fig and flowers by yours truly.
I got to do what I love most as a floral artist: guiding people through the art of floral design in a cozy, community-driven space. I taught attendees to “trust the process”, understand that art is subjective, and when it comes to designing with flowers, we don’t need to stress - this is about taking some time out of our regular day-to-day!
Filled with bright reds, oranges, pinks and purples, guests walked home with arrangements they could be proud to call their own.
Genius photographer, Ash Adams was on site to capture some gorgeous snaps of the evening! It was such a treat to gather a warm group of women together and stay cozy during yet another ‘minus who knows what temperature’ in the city.✨
International Women’s Day at Balenciaga
It's always surreal to bring my floral touch to such iconic brands. Working on luxury events like this as a florist reminds me how versatile and in-demand floral design really is. I don’t think I’ll ever be unfazed when I step into a luxury brand location, dressed up to the nines - hair slicked back, wearing all black - with a few buckets of flowers to add a little organic matter to the mix. Imagine walking into Holt Renfrew or zipping down the busy streets of Yorkville and seeing a bushel full of lavender and purple flowers? Is it a glitch in the Matrix or you local flower girl doing her thang?
In my regular day-to-day, I’m either hustling flowers in my studio, or zipping through loading docks to set up for an epic Toronto event. So having the opportunity to play dress-up and rub elbows with Toronto’s elite is a fun mix up from my regular schedule.
Grateful doesn’t begin to cut it when I get to say I’ve worked with Balenciaga more than once (peep the all yellow activation I did for them), and put Prada on my portfolio. This time around, it was for International Women’s Day. Bouquets bursting with purple blooms were a gift with purchase and for loyal customers. This is the world of luxury, baby!
Painted Floral Mural
What does one do when you’re in the dead of winter with a very slow schedule and access to lots of white walls? Paint them, of course!
My parents have always been my ultimate cheerleaders - from encouraging me to go to art school, climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, jet off to Wales for 4 months, and even open my own coworking space (true story!). So given the opporunity to paint their bathroom felt like a regular ‘ol visit home.
While it’s a bit outside of my usual work as a floral designer, painting this mural allowed me to explore another medium of creative expression. I’ve been slowly developing a body of paintings and wanted more experience anyway! My mom invited me “do whatever I wanted” but we went to the paint store so she could choose the colours.
In the tub I went, and free-styled the whole thing. What do you think?!
Alt Summit Hanging Installation
Do you have anything on your bucket list? For me, attending Alt Summit has been at the tippity top for over a decade. I decide 2025 was the year I claimed it! If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a conference for creative, colourful, entrepreneurial women making bold choices in their lives and business. It was created by Gabrielle Blair, or Design Mom as the internet calls her. The conference welcomes insightful and daring speakers, enlist an incredible lineup of highly-skilled artists to transform the space, and curate the most incredible community of wholesome attendees. I’m a big fan.
On a whim, I decided to put my name forward and see if I’d get accepted as an artist. You have to shoot your shot, right?! How it all came to be is a story for another day, but, y’all, I freaking did it!
The ask was to design the Alt Logo completely in flowers. Was I freaking out a little? You bet. Did I say yes without hesitation? Absofreakinloutley. I’m thinking I’ll do a full blog post on how this came to be, and outline some of the process. But for now, check out the Instagram Reel recapping the trip - oh did I mention it was in PALM SPRINGS?! Spoiler alert: my piece was on the KEYNOTE freaking stage!
Designing a floral installation for Alt Summit was a career highlight—just one of many ways I bring floral art to life both inside and outside of Toronto.
Photos by local photographer, and friend, Nicole Breanne.
First of Spring Mobile Workshop
If we’ve met in real life, then you already know: I’m a people person. I just love the chance to chit-chat with new folks, and even better if it’s over a hands-on project.
I couldn’t believe just how many inquiries I received for the first of Spring - the season was just calling for flowers! So when I got the ask to bring a floral arranging workshop to a local condo building, I couldn’t resist. Also: can my building bring in some local artists for crafts?!
March 20th was a particularly balmy afternoon, with a DOUBLE RAINBOW - perfect for connecting residents together over the Art of Flower Arranging. With a wagon full of blooms, vases and snips at every station, I taught the principals of floral design along with the rules I break, tips I swear by and friendly encouragement for all 30 of our guests.
I’ve now taught 100’s of participants and I keep coming back to this: hosting a floral workshop like this is one of my favourite services I offer. I arrive with so many flowers, leave with an empty car but a very full heart.
As a cheeky, ambitious and not totally out there goal: my wish in 2025 is to lead a 100 person workshop. Know someone in HR dying to bring an interactive team experience to life? Tell them about me. 😉
Reviewing my first quarter of 2025 I’m super proud of myself! It’s officially be 3 full years of persuing floristry in Toronto and I would never have imagined I’d have the skills and confidence to do even half of the projects I brought to life this quarter. It’s amazing what time, commitment and trust (and a wee bit of delusions) in yourself can to do transform your career, and skillset.
Aside from Balenciaga, I didn’t do any brand work at the top to of the year. It makes sense though, because I find this tends to happen in the second half of the year. So, now that Pride month is here, it’s only fitting to look back on what I did for the festival last year. 🌈
If you’re looking at these photos and thinking: who, what, how?! and you want a little flower magic in your life…please reach out!
’till the next one, xoxo
Rachel
