A flair and fondness for floristry

FLORAL designer, Lani Chapman was awarded first prize in the 2019 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show’s Baptcare Shop Window competition last week.

The young creative from Ballarat’s Jenny Burke Florist was prompted by the brief, ‘home is where the heart is’ and developed a vegetative design that acknowledged all animals’ homes, which can be anywhere.

Ms Chapman created the structure a male Bowerbird makes when seeking a female partner, having been inspired by the natural phenomenon on holiday. She even sourced her final leafy touches from the Carlton Gardens.

“The male Bowerbird spends ages trying to make the structure and then he goes around and collects blue objects to bring the female in,” she said. “I got to see the nest and the bird actually landed on me and tried to get my blue bottle cap lid.

“The way I’ve placed the flowers into the foam is how those flowers would grow, even in the sense of which ones are tallest. It mimics nature, that’s the whole point of the design. At Jenny Burke, our motto is ‘nature is our model’ so we take a lot of inspiration from how things grow and mimic that in what we create. Everything is bespoke, different, creative and artistic.”

Entering floristry just under five years ago as a secondary student on work experience, Ms Chapman is now a veteran of the MIFGS, competing, running demonstrations and contributing to floral fashion parades like last weekend’s Wedding Couture Show.

She’s had success at regional and national World Skills competitions, also known as the Olympic try-outs for trades, and has even run flower classes at Haddon Community Learning Centre. It’s hard to believe Ms Chapman is only 20 years old.

Now fully qualified, having initially juggled school and her apprenticeship, she is completing her Certificate IIII, with a big focus on floristry’s business and management.

But away from official qualifications, some of the most impressive things about Ms Chapman are her design flair and positive outlook.

“I’ve always liked doing creative things. When I do floristry, I can picture something in my head and I can create that how I envisioned it,” she said.

“I know that my design style is quite unique to other Australian florists. Our designs reflect Europe more, so when I enter a competition, I like to think my pieces are going to stand out.

“I do a lot of techniques that your everyday florists wouldn’t know how to do, and that’s thanks to Jenny’s knowledge. She’s been a massive support and a great mentor. But because what we do is quite different, often we won’t score very well at competitions, so when I won, it was a shock. I was hopeful that something might come of it, but I wasn’t expecting to win.”

Ms Chapman’s talent and professionalism is obvious, but most of all, her deep passion and love for the industry shines through.

“You deal with the circle of life, being a florist,” she said. “You deal with the births, the happy moments, the sad moments in life, sympathies, and you meet all kinds of people in all stages of life. It’s not just creating nice things.

Ms Chapman said “nailing” an arrangement for a customer is heartwarming.

“We do a lot of things for funerals. It’s sort of a person’s last way to say goodbye or the last gift they’ll give that person,” she said. “When you get that right, it touches your heart. It’s very rewarding and great to see people amazed at how you did it.”

Looking ahead, Ms Chapman hopes for more competitive opportunities, and one exciting challenge that’s just a little larger. “Eventually… one day… hopefully… I’ll open my own store,” she said.