In Conversation with Joanna Cairns
"I thrive on the energy, creative chaos and unpredictable nature of event work, nailing the brief within the timeframe and wowing the client."
Give us a quick overview of who you are and what you do.
I would describe myself as a friendly, fun, all-round creative person, focusing on creating really beautiful floristry. I am so much more than ‘just a florist’ and I’m always trying to bring my art background into my work as a designer. I’m blessed to have worked in an industry I love for the past 18 years, creating wonderful designs from my studio in Ripon, North Yorkshire.
My floral design work is extremely client led, listening to what each couple or business desires and making suggestions to further enhance their ideas. My aim is to maximise each floral investment, creating the very best visual effect, and really reflecting the style and personality of each couple or company. Every event or wedding I work on is so unique and yet I can still see my artistic handwriting running through everything created which is a joy to see.
I know you’re a woman of many talents. What does Joanna the florist look like?
I work from a very loved studio space, situated just below Ripon Cathedral, North Yorkshire. I am constantly improving and changing the space to reflect my current inspiration and you are most welcome to make an appointment to visit if you are in the area.
I do love a deadline so working in the event and wedding industry completely suits my personality. You can’t get any firmer deadline than a 2pm ceremony on a wedding day! I’m a real ideas person and love a good brainstorming session, throwing inspiration around and bringing the enthusiasm to all projects. The flip side to this does mean that I have a habit of starting 3 or 4 jobs at once because I’m so excited by them all. To counteract this, I surround myself with a team of talented florists who are natural ‘finishers’. Many have worked with me for over 10 years and together we make it all happen smoothly.
And, tell us where your inspiration comes from.
An all-round creative person – it’s definitely in the blood! Being inspired by the natural world plays a huge part in my work, and I was well known at university for returning from a mountaineering weekend in the Scottish hills with bags of twigs, pebbles, moss and other treasures for inspiration.
This organically led to the creation of designs, patterns and textiles with a soft flowing feel in a beautifully muted colour palette. I’m still so drawn to this palette today and express it through my floristry work as well as gardening, painting and drawing, embroidery, sewing and ceramics. I enjoy how different mediums make me think in alternatives ways and yet, I love to see how my work still has a thread of the same personality running through it.
It gives me great joy to create beautiful things for myself, my home and for others. I’m a great believer in that we must share our skills and I do enjoy being generous with my crazy brain and all random ideas that pass through it. I probably drive a lot of people around me quite mad and often go round in circles with ideas for while - overthinking is certainly part of the process.
It’s clear you’re a very busy person. Does the work ever stop?
Many would say that my work/life balance is pretty terrible. Difficult though when your work is such a huge part of your life and being a creative will never be a 9-5 role. I’m often thinking how best to create a new design, problem solving logistics in the back of my brain, discussing challenges over a family tea, quizzing friends on how to create something they may be more familiar with.
I do say I collect interesting people and like to surround myself with practical and unusual thinkers who can throw light on tackling a project in a slightly different way. It’s a very organic process and one I really relish. I thrive on the energy, creative chaos and unpredictable nature of event work, nailing the brief within the timeframe and wowing the client. I definitely love the buzz of it all, especially when the band sound checks and it all starts to come together.
I’m married to the kind handsome Graeme who is exactly the opposite personality to me (they do say…). He loves a routine, finds the unpredictable nature of my work rather stressful and worries on my behalf when flowers arrive in the wrong shade. I certainly could not do what I do without him and he is utterly brilliant at making sure the plates keep spinning at home, particularly when I’m immersed in an all-consuming big scale event.
"I collect interesting people and like to surround myself with practical and unusual thinkers who can throw light on tackling a project in a slightly different way. It’s a very organic process and one I really relish."
What does having creative outlets add to your life?
Being creative allows me to get lost in my work which is a really lovely place to be. Some people call it ‘being in flow’ or getting in the zone, but all other things sink away and I simply focus on the task at hand. We live in a world where overthinking is a real thing and you can drive yourself crazy going round and round with an idea in your mind. You simply need to get stuck in and the thoughts disappear. I worked with the lovely Paula in a flower shop in North Leeds at the very start of my career. When working through the orders for that day, we’d sometime tie ourselves in knots about the best way to get everything done and in which order. It used to get to the point where we just needed to start making bouquets. Once our fingers got busy, our busy minds relaxed and we would see a clear way through. We simply needed to get going and get our hands busy with our work. This still happens today and often the way forwards is just to begin.
My floristry work is totally focused on creating the very best for my clients and how best to do this within their ideal level of investment. I spend a lot of time planning and pondering and love it when
For more from Joanna, make sure you're following her on Instagram and Pinterest for regular instalments from her floristry studio in Ripon, North Yorkshire.
You can also follow along with her latest artistic ventures outside of the studio on her new page Jo Cairns Art.
If you want to find out when her next in-person and online art and floristry workshops are coming up, sign up to receive notification emails by clicking here.
