About me

Hello, I’m Fiona.
I live in the beautiful Pennine hills in West Yorkshire, UK, with my husband Brian & rescue whippet Flo.

The long-reaching views down our wooded valley endlessly inspire me and inform my work.

Background

My background is varied and, on the face of it, disparate. I spent twenty years in the fast-paced commercial world of printing, followed by a further fifteen-or-so years as a hard-working event floral designer, before pivoting once again to become the artist I am now.

I combine all my loves, passions and talents as a multi media artist, working mostly on installations, exhibitions, commissions and educating.

BiO

Working with texture, movement and a tight colour palette, Fiona creates dramatic designs and images using seasonal, locally sourced and foraged materials, often including the earth itself. Drawn to the overlooked or damaged as well as items others consider to be ugly or waste, Fiona’s alchemy transforms these humble ingredients into melancholic works of art, evoking deep emotions in the observer.

Fiona is a pioneer of the British flowers movement, trailblazer of sustainable installations and innovative floral designer. She is an experimental artist, photographer and educator - forever evolving, dabbling and experimenting with new techniques and practices.

About my practice

Before flowers

I studied and had a successful career in the fast-paced, pressurised corporate world of commercial printing, working with some of the top UK design agencies as my clients.

It was there that I developed a great eye for colour through demanding and minute colour corrections, as well as a lifelong love of textured paper and a fascination with letterpress printing.

During my busy corporate career, my garden was a place of sanctuary. By the age of twenty-four I was obsessed with everything gardening and I’ve had a love of it ever since.

When I started toying with self employment, I dithered between garden design and floristry, eventually opting for floristry so that my passion for the garden didn’t get diminished by becoming my job.

And so it was that I started my own floral design business - Firenza Floral Design (later Firenza Flowers) which thrived for twenty years.

After a traumatic year of family bereavement combined with my busiest year by far, a further change was needed. I either embraced the success of the business and went much bigger or I scaled back. I chose the latter.

During this time I was very honoured to have my garden featured in The English Garden Magazine.

english garden magazine feature

Finding my own path

In 2012, at the peak of my wedding flower business, I started to grow a few herbs and flowers to use in my work, which by then was entirely large weddings.

At the time the vast majority of flowers sold in the UK were imported, and choosing to use self- or locally-grown materials was both unusual and, I’m afraid pretty much laughed at by my peers (they’ve actually told me since) - they also now incorporate British-grown flowers!

I started sourcing from artisan flowers growers, at a time when there were almost no small-scale cut flower growers in the UK. It was around this time that I had my eyes opened to the environmental impact of floral foam, which I immediately ceased using.

Being among the first designers to create large-scale foam-free installations I relished discovering new ways of working, finding ways to create the large pieces I’ve always made, but in a more planet-friendly way.

It turns out I have a real knack for devising ways of making huge installations with an often eclectic and random selection of containers and mechanics.

There are now many designers using locally grown flowers without foam and it gives me great pleasure to see some of my more out there - and often distinctly Heath Robinson - techniques being embraced far and wide for large scale designs.

From florist to artist

Over time my practice has expanded beyond flowers and floristry.

I’ve honed my offering along the way and have been lucky enough to attract clients who love my work and trust me to design to my own brief - sometimes without knowing exactly what they’ll get until it’s created.

This is the sweet spot.

I’m free to let me imagination run riot, explore materials and ideas, and create something that perhaps neither of us could have fully imagined at the outset. The client gets something much more elevated and dramatic than they ever could have contemplated.

That freedom to experiment is a big part of what keeps me interested, I’m forever trying new techniques, materials and processes, often combining things I’ve learned throughout my rather varied career.

what matters to me

I work with natural elements and materials, and indulge my passion for the things that other people overlook - the weathered, the damaged, imperfect, discarded and sometimes downright ugly.

I embrace the wonk of a stem

A snail-damaged leaf is something I actively encourage

No floral foam is a given