Today we’d like to introduce you to Jayne Kim.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
This is a question I get asked a lot by people trying to break into the floral industry. When I was 20 and briefly living in Detroit, I got a part-time job at a flower shop. I was selling funeral packages to grieving families, memorizing the names of flowers, and learning about the retail end of this business. Then later when I moved to San Francisco, I got a job as a designer at a company called Farmgirl Flowers. I worked up the ladder to become their head designer which involved ordering truckloads of flowers per day from local growers in CA, training and managing a team of (what was at the time) 25 floral designers and coming up with / quality-controlling all of the product. This was a wild gig. When I started, this company had around 14 employees and when I left, they had over 100. It was an invaluable experience and the hardest work I have ever done.
When I moved back to Los Angeles, I wanted to take all of this experience along with the relationships I had built and turn it into something I could call my own. This is how Still Carnations came to be.
At the beginning it was a lot of trial and error when it came to acquiring new clients, building my reputation and growing the business in general. And to be honest, it still is. But with every happy client and every successful partnership, I can feel my baby floral business blooming (haha) and I’m excited to see where it will take me next.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, and every florist in the world would say the same. I think in the age of Instagram domination, it’s easy to see #floristlife and assume that it’s just a gorgeous, almost therapeutic line of work and a “cute” thing to do. In reality, it’s some brutal work both physically and mentally. The hours are early (every day for two years in my early 20’s, my alarm was set to 4AM,) the product is finicky and perishable, and the margins are thin. The buckets are heavy, event timelines are strict, and you are dirty 85% of the time with achey feet. This side isn’t “aesthetic.”
Of course, there’s the other side. Like last night, when a very joy-drunk bride at the end of her wedding reception hugged me twice and raved about the flowers. The satisfaction of creating something beautiful, deeply personal and killing the install is something that keeps me going gig after gig.
Still Carnations – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Still Carnations engages collaboratively with event designers, planners, brides, creative directors, art directors, photographers, brands, and party-throwers of all kinds to create floral arrangements, installations, and activations.
We work with clients to dream up something perfectly tailored to their needs that also fits within their budget. Because we’re still a budding (sorry not sorry) business and don’t have a lot of overhead costs (my studio is a two car garage below my apartment), we can dedicate more resources for our clients.
I have deeply rooted (wow, I can’t stop these puns) relationships with flower growers and wholesalers in California who make sure I get the best quality of flowers and plants for my projects. I’m also very lucky to be connected to an incredibly talented pool of freelance designers in Los Angeles. These folks are the crème de la crème and help me execute projects of any scale.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
One thing that I’m super proud of is that this year, Still Carnations has committed to not using floral foam in our designs. This is an issue that’s getting some more attention thanks to florists with larger platforms than mine, and I’m happy to be a part of the resistance!
Basically, in the floral design world, floral foam is used widely (one event can use dozens of cases) often for installations and centerpieces. It holds flower stems in place so that you can create unique styles of arrangements easily and quickly. The problem is, it’s made with microplastics and carcinogens like formaldehyde and black carbon. Worse yet, it’s basically designed to get washed into our water system.
This gets into our food and water. It’s harmful to the people touching it and to our environment. Just because it’s the standard doesn’t mean it’s ok.
Still Carnations uses techniques we’ve learned and developed over time to avoid using foam while not compromising on design. This involves incorporating re-usable materials like chicken wire, water tubes, and waterproof tape into the unseen “mechanics” of our floral designs.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.stillcarnations.com
- Phone: 6267261132
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Ian Santos, Jussy, Isabella Bevrahan
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