About this event

If you are thinking of a career change and would like to learn more about the floristry industry, then this 2-week intensive course will give you a good understanding of the theoretical side of the industry and also arm you with a range of practical designs which can be developed upon in future design courses to enhance your customer offer.

Week 1: The Business of Floristry Week:  10th - 16th July 2023

Subjects covered during this week include:

  • Health & Safety and safe working practices specific to the industry
  • Employment laws and policies and procedures
  • General care and conditioning of a range cut of flowers, foliage and plants
  • Wastage and general day to day hygiene
  • Ordering from a range of fresh material and sundry suppliers/terms and conditions of sale
  • Work organization and peak-period planning
  • Customer service, complaints, meeting customer’s expectations, consumer law
  • Marketing and promotion and social media platforms
  • Shop display – The theory behind the practice and working with ‘Trends”
  • Industry talk from a member of the BFA Board about how you can work with them as a retail florist.

Week 2: The Design Week:  17th- 23rd July 2023

Some attendees on the course may be managers/owners of an existing retail business who are not formally trained in floristry – this week will take you through the top 20-25 designs needed for most retail floristry businesses and give you an understanding of how you or your team can achieve good workmanship using the principles and elements of design as a guide. We also look at industry techniques that will help you enhance your designs and help you to ‘stand out from the crowd’. Designs covered include:

  • Hand-tied designs – different styles of wrapping (Posies, bouquets and sheafs)
  • Based and open funeral designs including letters
  • Designs onto moss frames as tributes or door hangings
  • Designs using floral foam to include baskets, table centers and gift work
  • Planted designs for retail and corporate work
  • Button holes, corsages and badges for weddings
  • Eco-designing – an appreciation and understanding of how to reduce the carbon footprint of your business

The cost of this course includes all botanical material, frames, theory folder, lunch, together with coffee, tea and soft drinks.

This cost of this course is: £2,000 for the 2 week course.