Lauren King is a florist and owner of Braddon Flowers located in Canberra.

FLORIST & OWNER

One very busy, fateful Mother’s Day, an admin worker at a Central Coast florist was thrown in the deep end and asked to ‘get on the tools’. Over ten years later, Lauren King hasn’t looked back. With a tonne of experience under her belt, the flowerhead now runs her own floral haven, Braddon Flowers. Business-smart, inherently creative and a true romantic, Lauren shares the ups, downs and in-betweens involved in running your own small biz. We chat about venturing out solo vs with a partner, her best investment, how to stay creative when it’s your 9–5, and of course… Taylor Swift.

Lauren, you lovely thing! Tell us about what you do for work and what a typical day involves.

I’m a florist and I have a tiny shop in Braddon, which is one of the hip parts of Canberra. The shop is aimed at a younger crowd who just want to grab something really cute that’s not going to break the bank. I like to stick to shop sales, but here and there I do events. And that’s me! My day job is going in there, making flowers, selling them and then going home.

Cool! Do you do it all yourself? Flower markets and all?

No – there’s no market here, which is a shame. There are growers all around Canberra who I use; I get deliveries all through the week.

Direct from farmers! That’s amazing!

Oh it’s the best – and it's why my bunches look fun and different. It’s the local produce. It’s just incredible.

How did you get your start in the flower biz?

I finished school and worked in admin for a florist. One Mother’s Day they were getting absolutely slaughtered, so I ended up on the tools. And then – that was it.

My boss there was amazing and kept us all under the whip. That taught me my craft, my speed and my attention to detail… even though it wasn’t my typical style. Then I moved to Mudgee and worked at a florist for about a year before opening up my own shop, Octopus’ Garden, in Long Jetty on the Central Coast with one of my friends, Elythea.

We did that for five years and everyone loved it – we were really lucky. It was really cheap rent, really low risk. But I just didn’t want to stay on the Central Coast forever. After we closed, I didn’t expect to do floristry again. I was studying psychology in Canberra and I just hated it. I wanted to be doing flowers. I was like ‘Why did I leave?! I loved that!’

Was it the creativity that you missed?

Yeah. But also, moving to a new city, it wouldn’t have made sense to open a florist straight away. Most of my success has been that most of my friends are buying what I’m making, visiting and talking about me.

The community has really been my biggest thing.

Yeah, but that only works if the product is also fantastic, right? No one’s floating their friends’ businesses if the products aren’t incred.

Hahaha…yeah. You might get them to buy one sympathy bunch, then that’s it.

After Octopus’ Garden, what things do you think are important to consider when opening a business with a partner?

Elythea and I were really lucky. She was 10 years older than me so the things she thought about, I didn’t even know about. I kind of brought a different energy and I was a florist, so there were things I was able to teach her – but she was very creative and talented too.

It was so great to have somebody who I could bounce off. But then, there’s the other part, where she was trying to make this business work and mesh with her life, which was very different to mine. I was living behind the shop and partying most nights, whereas Elythea had a family, a mortgage and another full-time job. Most of the time it worked though.

Any time we could feel tension and knew we needed to chat, she’d book the fanciest restaurant. She always made it really fun. We’d start with the hard stuff and then, you know, the second bottle of Champagne would come… and by the end you’re hugging. If you ever have anything difficult to bring up, book a boozy lunch!

Having Braddon Flowers alone, I've felt alone. You have to self-motivate. But, you reap all the benefits as well. And I do like having full creative control, for sure.

I just had a flashback… did you guys make moss balls? They were a hardcore trend.

Oh God. Honestly, I think I made 50 a week. I was on Pinterest recently and saw a picture of Octopus’ Garden, and there were moss balls COVERING the ceiling! It gave me anxiety. I actually now put them in the same category as ‘live, laugh, love’ signs – keep them away.

Maybe the moss ball will come back.

Oh it has to. That’s how it works, right?! And frangipanis, they’re coming back. I’ve been watching gerberas come back too, and just having to accept it. Actually, a floral artist from Melbourne called Hattie Molloy, she’s been runnin’ gerberas for a while. And she’s the COOLEST.

For me, I couldn’t care less about what the flower is. So long as it’s not damaged, marked or dehydrated, usually I can work with it. If I see beautiful flowers in someone’s garden, I’ll leave a little note with a business card and say ‘I’ll buy your flowers!’. There are some really beautiful gardens around! I’m like ‘surely you’re happy to part with some of these for $50!’.

How much are you pushing yourself creatively? You have gerberas with wool wrapped around the stems that look incredible and so unique, how did you come up with that?

I don't think of myself as a creative person. I think because all my creativity goes into my work, it just feels like my work!

The gerberas were something that shocked me as well! I got these balls of wool for my opening night – we had to hire barricades due to capacity laws and I wanted to make these wool tassels to cover them cos they were so ugly. But then we went back into lockdown and the opening didn’t happen, so there was no use for all this wool. So I started wrapping them around bunches.

It looks SO cool.

Yeah it does! It’s a niche that’s just accidentally happened. One day the shop was so, so quiet. So what do you do when it’s quiet? You make the best damn bunch of flowers you can, and make it crazy and fun. And that just happened! I make them here and there, but the gerberas are then worth like $15 a stem, which isn’t what I wanted.

What has been your best business investment?

It’s staff. I have few people that help and one official staff member, Gracie. She’s very motivated. And she’s got two other jobs! I’ll get messages from her at 9pm like, ‘I thought of this idea, wouldn’t this look cute in BF!’. And, she gives me time off. Well, I mean… I had today off and I visited the shop three times… I’m still learning.

Checking in on your baby.

Yeah! And making sure Gracie doesn’t feel like she’s been thrown in the deep end. I definitely come in and out [of the shop] like a tornado – I’m quite self aware with that, trying to settle myself a bit more. But when I communicate with staff, and train, I try to be really encouraging, not nitpick.

I’m careful with who I hire. If I know they are doing their best and trying to do what’s best for the business, I don’t really care if they show up five minutes late or drop a vase.

Totally. You want people to love the brand as a whole and have consistency across each of your team members.

Even though people do come in every day and ask for me… staff are your best investment!

That’s a real testament to who you are and how much you shine through your store.

Thank you. I’m just an absolute simp for my customers. People are like ‘I don’t wanna spend that much’ and I’m just like ‘alright. How much do you wanna spend? Let’s make it work for you.’ People who spend $40 one week, will eventually have an occasion where they wanna spend $100. It’s all money.

Totally. It’d be great if everybody came in and spent $200, but it’s about trying to create a product at a price point that people are willing – and STOKED – to buy regularly.

Exactly. People will be like ‘I’d love to order a bunch of flowers for $50’ and then they’ll send me their favourite bunches from my Instagram… and they’ll all be $150 bouquets. It’s just expectation management.

Was financial stuff like pricing and wages a steep learning curve?

There's a general markup rule for floristry, and it’s a big markup – like, 350% – that covers your sundries (tools, ribbon, paper) and your rent, utilities and time. It is a big markup, but there are a lot of costs to consider.

How has your floristry style evolved over time?

It’s definitely like fashion. When we had Octopus’ Garden it was all about the natives, crisp white flowers and heaps of greenery. Brides were even doing just greenery bouquets. And now it’s no greenery. There are some key people that still do it, like Bess in Paddington – her dad is a farmer and grows the most beautiful native flowers. She’s kept to that look and it’s beautiful and timeless.

You also just figure out little tricks and how things work. Like, if I use these flowers, they tuck into the stalks on those other flowers easily. That kind of thing.

So you have a memory bank of little formulas of things that you know work together?

Yes exactly. And colour groupings too – like I’ll do purples, whites and maybe baby blues, and then the warmer colours where I do peaches, oranges and reds. And if I’m not sticking to a monochromatic colour situation I will just make sure EVERY colour is in it.

I don’t think you can really go that wrong with flowers. There are ways to make things look really nice, but you’d be pretty hard pressed making a bad bouquet if you have good product.

They are works of art, all so unique. I follow a few florists but whenever a bouquet pop up on my Insta feed I know straight away if it’s yours.

In all fairness, anything I post, from beginning to end, I’ve got the mindset of ‘this is going to go online’. I take Instagram seriously – like If I need to post something, I’ll look at the grid and make sure it’s all going to flow.

Speaking of online – and not to dwell on Covid – in terms of having to market a brand-spanking-new shop, what’s been your biggest takeaway on pivoting to work within restrictions?

Yeah… well you have to, right? When I signed the lease I didn’t anticipate, especially not in Canberra, another lockdown. Initially I was like ‘I’m not having a website, I’m not doing online sales. It’s a little hole in the wall shop and that's it! Walk-ins only!’

But you have to adapt. It's your only option.

I got really, really lucky. As well, Elythea was really kind, I used the Octopus’ Garden Instagram account for Braddon Flowers. I don’t have thousands and thousands of followers, but I have enough for people to go ‘How did I miss this?’.

Where do you want Braddon Flowers to go? Do you want it to be just sustaining you or for it to grow?

I have an 18 month plan: I want a second shop. I would like to live closer to the coast, and not be in the shop so much. But, we’ll see. I do want it to just sustain me, but I'd also like to be quite comfortable, and eventually I’d love to have the capacity to employ some people with disabilities. I sometimes feel like with flowers I'm not contributing to society in a really meaningful way.

I think a lot of people feel like their jobs don’t have enough of a meaningful impact. And flowers have such a direct effect – every single bunch is improving someone’s day.

Yes. I totally agree and that is one of my favourite parts and obviously why I do it. But also, flowers are such a luxury.

Oh, absolutely. Having the intent to hire – and then hiring – people that may otherwise be overlooked in the workforce is truly so great. If only every business, especially big businesses, made a commitment like that.

Yeah. Wouldn’t that be so nice!

Who are you creatively inspired by?
I really like Hattie Molloy and XXFlos, they’re in Melbourne. Renko Floral in LA and Honolulu. In that part of the world they get soooo many good flowers that we just can’t get!

Have you had any experiences with burnout being a sole business owner? How do you find striking the balance?

Yeah. It’s funny that you’ve asked that, because this week has been focused on that.

I say yes to absolutely everything, so I burn myself out all the time. I’m still figuring that out.

This has not been an easy six months. It’s been super rewarding and exciting because there is so much potential with Braddon Flowers, but also personally, I’ve just been through a breakup, moved into my own apartment, got Covid. There has been a lot going on, but I’ve been actively putting some things in place to help.

That’s really good to hear that you’re carving out that time for yourself – it’s so hard. What do you love the most about running your own shop?

A lot of the time, people pick up their flowers and they look really, really happy. It looks like they are going to be really proud to give them away. That is absolutely the best feeling ever. Sounds a bit lame but it’s true. It’s definitely not washing all the buckets or sweeping the floor. That part isn't my favourite.

My other favourite thing about the shop is that I get to listen to whatever music I want. I reckon I rock Taylor Swift all day, once a week.

You’re a ride or die Swifty.

Yeah. It doesn’t even feel good. Cos I just get so worked up and so upset.

When the ten-minute version of All Too Well came out recently did you have to take a week off work?

The lyric video is actually better. Then the live performance on Saturday Night Live. I just went down a YouTube rabbit hole for the whole weekend. I have been known to take early days, because she usually releases albums at 2pm our time. So... a sick day. But then I had to just start being honest, because people would get to know me and then they’d put two and two together: ‘She’s released an album today, and you’re sick. Interesting.’

So that’s the real reason you wanted to be your own boss…

Exactly. Now I can just listen to it on the spot.