December 13, 2024 • 56 mins
Join us as our guest Beth O'Reilly shares her exhilarating experience as a contestant on "Full Bloom" and the global impact of her artistry. Her story highlights the emotional highs and lows of the competition, including heartfelt moments of missing her family. Beth opens up about how floristry has fostered meaningful connections and inspired many through her TV presence and social media. You’ll get a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes world of floral design competitions and how they can transform personal and professional lives.
Laura Walsh, the Director of Marketing at Smithers Oasis, shares her journey from her childhood on an Angus cattle farm to becoming a prominent figure in floriculture marketing. Discover how her deep-rooted passion for agriculture led her to explore floral design, and how her experiences in floral education have shaped her innovative approach to product development at Smithers Oasis. We promise you’ll gain insights into how understanding floral design can elevate your marketing skills and ignite creative product innovation.
We share personal stories of balancing career, motherhood, and marriage, reflecting on how these experiences intersect with our love for floristry. Expect a lively blend of industry insights, personal anecdotes, and thoughtful discussions on the future of floral design.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Episode 5 of Flower Hour with Florist
Review.
Hello Nita, how are you doingtoday?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I'm doing wonderful.
I love summer.
It's been a nice busy summer.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Right, we've had a busy summer.
We just got back from AIFD inOrlando.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
It was amazing, inspiring, as always.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Yeah, we had a full week of floral inspiration.
It was really amazing theartistry of the work at AIFD.
If you've never been as aflorist, I really recommend that
you take a trip and visitbecause it really elevates just
the whole profession offloristry into the artistic
realm.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I feel, oh, I agree, and I think it's, yeah, it's
inspiring, no matter what pointof the journey you're in in your
journey of floral, it's justinspiring.
Every year I go, there'ssomething new or something that
I want to try, and it's just agreat experience.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And seeing all the people that were there testing
it was, I was really blown away.
We were able to see wheneveryone had finished their work
.
You can go through and seeeveryone's finished product.
When everyone had finishedtheir work.
You can go through and seeeveryone's finished product and
I mean, I was just amazed.
I thought there was at least80% of the people should have
passed, because it was soimpressive that the creations
(01:14):
that they had made wereeverything.
Everyone was different andcompletely different, and just
the creativity in that room wasamazing and just the creativity
in that room was amazing.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
That's what I find so interesting is that they all
received the same flowers, thesame product and the same
project to create, but everytable was so different and it
just shows you.
You know that I mean to reallythink about that.
With all the same product, buteverything you know, they made
different choices, differentcombinations and it just really
is inspiring.
Yeah, I was really impressed.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yes, very much so, and you know, I think that in
many ways the floral industryhas been elevated in, especially
in the consumer's eyes, in away that maybe it hasn't been in
the past.
That the artistry that peoplecan create with flowers, the
beautiful installations forevents and even just bouquets,
the creativity and artistry thatgoes into the industry, I think
we're seeing a realappreciation in the general
(02:12):
public like maybe that hasn'tbeen there in the past.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I definitely agree.
I think that they're a lot moreopen to new and different,
where we've always been scaredto, you know, go outside of the
box and do something different.
But I do think that consumersare very excited and more open
to new ideas, new colors, newflowers, new ways of doing
things.
So it is exciting.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, I think it's a really exciting time to be a
florist and you know it's notlike we don't have challenges in
the industry.
We certainly have challenges.
We've heard recently there havebeen some challenges in the
California area with growerswho've had to cut back and had
severe layoffs of companies thatwe love and you know, hopefully
we'll see again and see themcome through.
(02:53):
But you know it's the sameproblems that we know in a lot
of industry it's pricing, it'sutility cost, it's labor cost
and you know, just having toshuffle all of that in the
floral industry and a lot ofpeople may not realize that
where flowers are mostly grownin the United States are in
Northern California and inWashington, and these areas are
(03:14):
also very popular areas forconsumers to want to live in
because they do have thetemperate temperatures.
And so the growers, you know,have to fight off the developers
and you know, with the big pileof money to take their flower
farm and turn it into adevelopment.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
The cost of living, yeah.
I mean it's something we alldeal with.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah.
So if you're wondering why yourflowers are up, that's one of
the reasons is that growers arehaving to really deal with
increases in electricity costand labor cost.
Unfortunately, they have toprice it up, so those are
reasons of why some of yourflowers are seeing an increase.
But still, it's a greatprofession and we love to
promote it.
(03:56):
And we have an exciting showtoday with two wonderful people
in the industry Beth O'Reilly,who we all admire and she works
with us a lot.
We just love working with her.
And Laura Walsh, the directorof marketing for Smithers Oasis
we love working with them aswell.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
They're both fabulous .
They bring so much to theindustry from two totally
different sectors of it, butthey have so much to offer and
we're so excited to hear aboutupcoming trends and what they're
seeing in the industry productdevelopment, I mean.
There's so much new stuffcoming to the market every day
and that's what I findinteresting.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, let's get to it .
Speaker 2 (04:30):
All right.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Today we have joining us the talented floral designer
, Beth O'Reilly, and Laura Walsh, the Director of Marketing with
Smithers Oasis North America.
Welcome, ladies.
Thanks for having us.
Yes, Thank you so much.
Oh, it's our pleasure.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
We're so excited.
Well, I have the pleasure ofintroducing our first guest, ms
Beth O'Reilly.
She's a certified Texas masterflorist and a member of the
American Institute of FloralDesign, along with many other
accolades.
Beth, you have been in theindustry for, I know, over 25
years and have experienced, youknow all parts of the industry,
(05:09):
which I find very interesting Ifyou'd tell us a little bit more
about how you got started andhow your journey began.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yes, and I do call it a floral journey.
That's really a great term forit.
I started doing flowers as an18 year old.
I was just going into college.
I was looking for a way to makesome extra money and floral
design kind of fell in my lapand at the time I was also
studying sculpture fine art,sculpture.
So I wanted to be an artist inthree dimensions and I was
(05:39):
surprised to find out how wellfloral design worked with my
sculpture classes and I foundmyself wiring and taping with
floral tape in class and makingthese small gestural sculptures
out of floral wire and tape.
So that's really how it gotstarted.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Love that.
See, I didn't know that aboutyou.
That's that that makes so muchsense.
Sculpture and art, you know itall goes together with floral
design.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Yeah, and I just kept going back to flowers every
time, no matter what art ormedium I was doing, it just was
always going back to flowers.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Wow, and you did have a retail shop at some point
during your journey correct.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
My mentor as a young florist was Kobe Neal and he
still is.
He still is my mentor.
He's a wonderful man, veryartistic.
He has helped many of us intoAIFD and, just you know,
promoting us as young designers.
At the time and Kobe and I wentinto business together and we
were doing high-end weddings andevents and retail and this was
(06:40):
in Austin, Texas, and some of myfavorite times of my life,
remembering back to those things.
We were doing guerrilla art onthe side of 6th Street where we
were taking these flowersculptures all around town and
just filming people's reactionto them.
So a lot of inspiration camefrom those days, Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I love that.
And then just tell us quicklywhat you're doing now in the
floral industry.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
So now I've jumped over to the mass market side of
the floral business, which isvery interesting to me.
This is where I have anopportunity to touch people's
lives with flowers in the masses, not just on the retail level.
So I think it's important toofor even our retail florists to
understand what the mass marketside does for floristry as a
whole, and I've really gotten tolearn that this last few years
(07:24):
with Duchess Bouquets.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Beth, and you travel quite a bit.
Beth, my goodness, we heardyour travel schedule was amazing
.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Well, this month is a little bit hairy but normally
it's not quite as much travel.
But I do travel a lot and inMarch I did a big trip over to
Columbia and we were in Medellinand Bogota and the Chia area
and just visiting all kinds offarms and really inspiring and
wonderful.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
It is.
I love visiting farms.
There's just there's nothinglike it.
When you get there and you seethe people who are tending to
the fields and just seeing youknow the process of how they
grow, it's a totally differentexperience than you know walking
into your wholesaler, obviouslyso yes, I'm a proponent of
anyone who gets a chance even ifit's a local farm get to the
farm, understand how things arehappening in the fields and the
(08:13):
harvesting and thepost-harvesting, the shipping,
all of that.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
It's just mind boggling that we're able to do
what we do.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
It really is so cool.
It's awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And also joining us.
Today.
We have Laura with SmithersOasis.
Laura, tell us a little bitabout your journey in marketing
You've been in marketing formany years and how you came to
your current role at SmithersOasis.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Yes, thank you, jules .
I appreciate the quickintroduction, so my story isn't
quite as beautiful as Beth's isthe sculpture and the art piece
of things.
So I grew up on an Angus cattlefarm.
So, yeah, so I grew up in anAngus cattle farm, like in the
Ohio Valley area.
My father still has the farmand I was a 4-H and FFA kid and
(08:58):
I have always deeply, deeplybelieved in the value of
agriculture.
So from there, I love that.
Yeah, isn't that really?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
amazing.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
I think that's beautiful.
Yeah, for sure it's really been.
My mission is to help furtherthe mission of agriculture.
So I went to college forbusiness and marketing and then
I found myself working in thelivestock and equine supplies
industry right, becauseagriculture was important and
then from there I did a littlebit of freelance marketing on,
like, the crop side and theneventually on the ag side.
(09:30):
I have now found what I like tobelieve is my forever home in
floriculture, which is justabsolutely amazing, and it's
that perfect blend of getting todo business and marketing,
supporting and furthering themission of ag, and it's so much
prettier and it smells better.
Let's be honest, you guys, itsmells so much better than
hanging around with cows andhorses.
(09:51):
But I've got this really.
I've got a really big creativeand artistic side to me too, and
so that's the other part that'sjust really drawn me into
floral and I love that.
It allows me to really be thebest version of Laura that I can
be and it really helps tocombine all the passions that I
have here at Smither's Oasis.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
That's wonderful, that you were able to find such
a wonderful match between yourchildhood loves and your
professional ambitions.
That's wonderful.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yes, for sure, and I always say that the best things
in life, they're you know,they're cultivated, they're bred
, they're cared for.
You know all of those, all ofthose good things.
And I always threaten and Itell my father all the time that
someday, when he's done with anAngus cattle farm, it's time to
turn it into a flower farm.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Oh, I love it.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Let's do it, let's get this going.
Good soil I love thatbackground.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I find that so interesting.
And, laura, what I findinteresting about you too is
knowing that you took a realdive into floral education this
last couple of years.
You know, I usually findsometimes the marketers they
don't quite understand theindustry in a whole, and
understanding floral design andall those things can only
benefit your marketing skills.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat, because I find that so, so
(11:01):
intriguing.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Yes, oh, my goodness.
So as the director of marketing, my team were responsible for
everything for North America,from our communications and
social and all the wonderfulthings that you see and you see
us out at a lot of events andpromotional things.
But we also handle all of theproduct development and product
commercialization.
So I took this role on withcommercialization and product
(11:25):
development.
Just a few years ago, probablyduring the pandemic.
This responsibility kind ofcame my direction and I realized
I didn't know enough, right?
So here we are, smithers, oasisand we're.
You know we're making coolthings and doing cool things,
and I needed more information.
I needed to understand how theproducts were used.
I needed to get a better feelfor all of the nuances of floral
(11:51):
design.
So I started doing a couplethings.
I would shadow weddings, Iwould start to use products on
the side, on my own, and then Ijust found that not only was it
really interesting but it wassuper fun.
So floral design was reallyinteresting and very fun to me.
So my partner in crime, kellyMace which I mean it would be a
shame if I was on this podcastand didn't mention her at some
(12:13):
point in time but so Kelly and I, we jumped into a lot of floral
study last year under thetutelage of Kevin Jovasek and
several of our other designdirector teams Frank Faiza,
Sharon McGook and all of thesepeople that really rallied
behind us to provide us allsorts of support and we decided
that we are going to test forAIFD.
Last year, so proud of you, didnot make it, that's okay.
(12:37):
I did not.
No, it's a huge step.
Oh, my goodness, you know whatmy hat is off to anybody who can
one have the like fortitude totest for AIFD.
It's an intense experience.
It's probably the hardest thingand most vulnerable thing I've
ever done and failed miserablyat, and so I think that's one
(12:58):
thing that's really interesting.
Like, as adults, we don't dothings that we're not good at.
Like we don't put ourselves outthere and do things that are
hard.
So, even though we didn't reallyget the outcome we were looking
for, we learned we learned alot about ourselves through the
process and really digging intoit.
It was a really it was awonderful time.
We really enjoyed ourselves andwe did walk away CFD and in
(13:19):
addition to that, I also got myPFCI last year.
Love that.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Congratulations.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Excited to talk about flowers all the time, and then
my AAF as well.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Wow, very impressive, very impressive.
And now I'm sure you have sucha better understanding of the
industry as a whole and thechallenges that designers go
through, so that you cantranslate that into new products
for Smithers Oasis oh for sure.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Can I just say I love the fact that you learned so
much doing the testing.
I always it's very much likecompeting.
I'm a big competitor.
So when you put yourself out inthat element where you're under
the time clock and you have tocreate with what you have, you
grow so much immensely.
So to me I would say, eventhough you might not have gotten
AIFD.
You did win.
(14:07):
That was a big win to just beable to do that.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Well, I appreciate that, Beth.
I'm not sure I'd ever do itagain.
We're just going to let my oneexperience be my one and only.
But you're right, and it was sointeresting, it was such a
vulnerable feeling, right, likeit was a vulnerable feeling to
have to be working with underthat time pressure.
And I know that we've gotanother round of PFDE that's
just coming up in a couple ofweeks.
So I mean, you know, all thosepeople are starting to feel the
(14:32):
pressure too, I'm sure, but aswe went through it with the time
pressure, it was really a lot.
But then the scariest part wasthe cocktail party.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Walking around.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
You know the next night after judging and
everybody's walking around.
Oh, I was like trying to takepeople away from my table, Like
anytime somebody would be likeLaura, where's your table?
What?
No, I think I'm over here inthis other corner.
Let's go.
It was a really vulnerablefeeling.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Oh, but that's why I'm so proud of you.
It's so true to put yourselfout in front of all those people
, especially that you alreadyknow.
You know what I mean All theseother educators and AIFD people.
You know it was vulnerable foryou to do that and but I give
you so much credit for thatbecause I know it really made
you grow.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
For sure, and I will say we did come up with all
sorts of new products.
I mean, I think over the nextcouple of years you're going to
see things that roll out thatare going to be directly
influenced by Kelly and I'sjourney through CFD.
Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Yeah, oh, that's exciting.
Well, tell us a little bitabout what are some of the newer
things that you all have comingout.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Yeah, thank you for asking, so we're starting to get
back in the swing of things.
I know nobody wants to talkabout COVID, so I'm not really
going to talk about it but weall know that there was
kind of a lull, let's not allknow that there was kind of a
lull let's not Exactly, therewas a little bit of a lull in
product development, right?
Because a lot of things stoppedand all that.
So I'm excited to say that weare, you know, working on new
(15:52):
things again.
I can't really, I'm not atliberty to mention a couple of
them, but just be on the lookout.
Over the next couple months.
Some really cool stuff isdefinitely coming, you know,
down the way here.
But I also wanted to say, somany of you guys know that,
smithers Oasis we acquiredDesign Master probably in 2021.
I really should know this as themarketing director, but now,
(16:12):
just recently, design Master hascome over to our team here in
North America and I have to tellyou what a cool product line
right Like.
I just can't get over it.
So it might not be new to youguys and Beth's probably like oh
yeah, I've been painting foryears, I know all of these
things, but I just can't getover what a cool line it is Like
.
When I think about all of youknow really turning you know
(16:35):
trash into cash when you haveold stems and you know covering
up blemishes or reallytransforming things into you
know new sellableable products,or even just going down into
your inventory of containers andbringing them back to life with
something with Design Master, Ihave to say that that's
probably.
I'm very, very excited that ourteam is now taking over
(16:55):
marketing that brand, because itis extremely cool.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Yeah, I think we can't do what we do as florists
without being able to enhancebotanicals and containers and
anything you can think of.
We are botanical artists.
We need that tool Mostdefinitely.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
And the inventory as far as availability.
Is it back on the shelves now?
I know because there was a lullin inventory with Design Master
.
How is that going?
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Yup, it's back in stock.
We're good to go.
I know there was this weirdpoint in time where I mean there
was like a ration and you hadto place super secret orders and
all that stuff that I don'teven really understand.
But the point is is that we areback in business and you can
get, you know, all of yourbeautiful blues and flat whites
and peaches and pinks and allthat good stuff.
(17:43):
It's, it's really it's comingout with a vengeance.
It's everywhere now.
Well, that's exciting.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I know there's going to be a lot of excited people
because there was, there was aneed, a real demand there and
people were screaming for it, sothey're going to be really
exciting.
And so, beth, I wanted to touchon your competitive nature.
Tell us a little bit about yourexperience in full bloom.
I know a lot of people saw youin that show and were so
impressed with your work andjust your general personality
(18:12):
and everything about you.
And tell us a little bit aboutthat, how you got involved and
what an exciting journey thatwas, my goodness, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
So I have this competitive bug that's in me and
I think it was instilled in me,you know, from my mentor, who I
mentioned before, kobe Neal.
The first time I competed wasfor the Texas Cup in like 2001.
And it just it's contagious.
So anytime I get the chance tocompete I love to.
And this opportunity came aboutto be to at least audition for
(18:44):
Full Bloom.
And this opportunity came aboutto be to at least audition for
Full Bloom and I found myselfmaking it through the final cut
and being on the show and thelast woman standing on the
seventh episode, I think it was.
So you know I would do it allover again.
It was absolutely wonderful.
God willing, I'll be like alittle old lady sitting back and
dreaming about that day, thevery first day on set, when we
(19:07):
walked up to a three-storyreplica painting.
We were going to paint a VanGogh painting out of flowers and
how that made me feel, justwalking up to this.
And we did it in four hours.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Wow, and what we had, what both teams had to show for
it at the end of the four hours, was just amazing and that
opportunity I mean it was a semitruck full of flowers for each
team to be able to create onthese lifts and replicate a
painting.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
It was so big too, it looked huge at least on the
show.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
It was three stories, it was giant, it was definitely
big.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Well, you know what part I loved Beth is?
I didn't know you personally atthat time but I knew you from
you know, seeing you around AIFD, and knew who you were.
And then I was watching thatshow and I'm like, oh my God,
it's Beth O'Reilly.
And we were watching and therewas one of the episodes and I
just so connected with youbecause I'm a woman and I'm a
mom.
But you spoke of your son andyou were sad because you were
away.
Because you know you, I'm sureyou had to be away for at least
(20:06):
who knows 30 days or maybelonger, yeah about a month and
you know, and you had a littlebreakdown, like any of us would,
but I literally cried on mycouch and just so felt your
emotion, you know of just.
You know we're florists, wetravel, I do it too and I love
my kids so much, you know, so I,I just I really connected with
you on that.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Just wanted you to know.
Well, and Sebastian is a truelover of flowers as well.
My husband tells me all thetime please, let's have him be a
doctor, not a florist orsomething.
But he loves flowers and he, hemakes flowers with me.
He knows the names of flowershe graduated from, from
preschool.
This was preschool.
All the little girls gotbouquets.
And you know what?
I forgot to bring him a bouquetand he had a meltdown in the
(20:50):
car and I said never again willI ever forget to bring my son
flowers at the end of anything,I don't care what it is.
If he's running a race or abasketball game, he will always
get flowers and he has a trueappreciation and love for nature
and flowers because it'ssomething we've experienced
together.
That's so sweet, I love thatthat's so cool.
It's pretty cool.
You know, flowers are theperfect metaphor for our own
(21:12):
human existence and there'snothing better to teach children
with than flowers the life andthe death cycle.
You know we're prone todegradation, yet we maintain
strength and sustenance, andI've really used floristry to
help teach him some of thosethings.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I love that and I think the connection to nature,
especially in today's kids'childhood, with so much
technology and so much all ofthat, it's like no, let's get
our fingers in the dirt.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
You know, play with some flowers and connect with
nature.
I think that that's reallyimportant.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
And I'm also really proud of him when I have flowers
sitting on the table and hecomes out and he says oh mom,
those anemones are so pretty.
Yeah, my nine year old knowswhat an anemone is.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, buddy, I always love when they get creative too
.
I had a retail shop and when mykids were little, you know, of
course I would have to drag themalong here and there, and
sometimes I wouldn't be looking,but I noticed.
Oh, my daughter was watchingwhat I do, because she was
taking Oasis floral wire andmaking these like armatures and
(22:12):
I mean, she was like five or sixand I was like that's really
cool.
The creativity, yeah, it'ssuper, super awesome.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
But he was pretty proud of his mom for being on
that show too.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Oh, as he should be.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
I call it kind of like my few minutes of fame, but
, man, we made some greatconnections with other people on
the show, lifelong friendships,and it was really something
that was special, I think, forthe industry as a whole too, to
see, you know, a major TV showcome out about what we do.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
That was a big yeah, a big thing.
It's nice to see it, nice tosee you know, so other people
can see what we do and howamazing it is.
Love that.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
So tell us, Beth, what are some of the
accomplishments in your careerthat you're most proud of.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
So I am most proud of inspiring others through
flowers and having themexperience flowers in a way that
they never imagined before.
That would be the high in thehierarchy of what I'm proud of.
That would be it, and I've donethat many ways.
The TV show is one.
I'm always amazed how manypeople kind of come out of the
woodwork and and say, oh my God,I watched this video.
I watched that video.
(23:10):
I was a Mayesh design star atone point in time and did a
whole series of videos and youknow I'll walk into a wholesaler
and think I don't know anybody.
And all of a sudden I have somany friends, even people who
are just flower enthusiasts, whohave reached out to me on
social media and love flowers,and I've given them some sort of
inspiration.
So for me that's my bestaccomplishment.
(23:32):
Yes, there's shows, there'scompetitions that I've won, but
really just having peopleexperience the beauty and the
joy of flowers.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Well, what's so great about you, beth, is you're
really reachable, meaning like.
You know, beth O'Reilly that'sa big name to a lot of us, you
know, but you're so personable,You're so when I finally did
meet you and I was like, oh myGod, it's Beth O'Reilly and it's
like, oh, she's just a human,you know, like she, you're just
so.
She doesn't have the diva-nessabout her.
You know she's so, I don't know.
(23:59):
You're very wound to earth andit makes a difference, and
you're so wonderful.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
We love working with you.
You're so easy to work with.
Your work is always great.
It's on time, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
She's responsible.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
I mean, the list goes on.
Well, I've washed buckets justlike everyone I think that's in
this industry and I've gotten,you know, stitches on
Valentine's Day for using my newknife the wrong way, and just
all kinds of things I think thateverybody can relate to.
And yeah, we're all kind of inthe same floral family, so I
love that.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
I love that.
Now, laura.
Last time I was at an Oasisbooth, I think I saw a new kind
of twine that you guys werecarrying.
I don't know if it was hemp, orcan you tell us a little bit
about what that product was,cause it looked very interesting
?
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Yeah, for sure.
So we have just recently comeout with some new line of more
natural products.
So it's a line of we've gotsome new bamboo card holders and
picks and things like that.
But the twine that youspecifically saw, it's called
self-sticking twine, right?
So it's a hemp covered in likea beeswax type of deal and it
sticks to itself.
(25:06):
Thus the self-sticking.
How clever of us, right?
So thus the self-sticking twine.
But what I really love aboutthat product is it's really
great.
Some people say, well, you know,I already have bind wire.
Like what do I need aself-sticking twine for?
Right?
But it's really more forgivingand it lets you have, like, it
moves faster and it reallycreates a good bond, whereas we
(25:26):
know how wire can be right, itcan get a little sticky, a
little stuck and things likethat, whereas the self-sticking
twine just really creates areally good, a really good seal
when you use it, especially ifyou're using it on a bouquet or
you're using it, you know, forsome sort of binding kind of
technique.
It's a very cool product.
I'd recommend it.
It comes in three colors, Ibelieve it.
There's like a natural, a blackand like a white, maybe like an
(25:48):
off-white type of color, butall of them are really awesome
and something that you shouldcheck out so now I'm excited to
try that when you're.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I didn't know about this product and I do a lot of
armatures and a lot of times ifyou're trying to bind two points
together with wire, you willget some looseness.
After you know, things kind ofshift in the weight and the
gravity shifts and then it's nottight anymore.
So it sounds like that is awinner.
I want to try some of that,laura.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Yes, I love that yes, and just as you've described it
right.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
So you won't get those extra pieces at the end,
and if you do, you just stick itto itself.
Problem solved.
Very cool, yeah, I'm alwaysimpressed with the new things
that are coming out.
I also saw that you made one ofthe wine holders, you know, out
of foam that goes around a winebottle the big, you know,
social media craze.
But at least you've, you know,invented a mechanic that
actually works, rather thanpeople just jamming a big piece
of foam on top of a wine bottle.
So I do thank you for that.
(26:45):
But I saw that at a recent showtoo.
So it's always neat to see whatyou're coming out with next.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Yeah, and so that's our bottles up and what I like
about it.
There's two ways you can use it.
So the bottles up there's asmall one that can go on the
neck and you can design and makeit absolutely beautiful.
Or we have one that you can puton the base and you can
actually sink the wine bottleinto it and it holds pretty well
, right?
So I mean, if you've got like aginormous based champagne
(27:12):
bottle, that's insane, probablynot, but like a normal size wine
bottle or champagne bottlewould be just fine.
But then what's cool about it isit creates really beautiful
table decor, but you can pick itup and move it.
So like you could pick up thatbottle of wine and serve and
then put it back down.
Or even if you use it for awedding or an event, same thing,
right, you could, yourwaitstaff could walk around with
(27:33):
these very beautifullydecorated bottles, like.
It's a very cool product.
We're very excited.
And other ones on the marketwhich are very cool too, they
only have the top piece, right,they only have the small neck
one.
So having the neck and the baseone really kind of really opens
up your options for what youcan do, and I mean it's great
for candles too.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
That's what I was going to say I feel like every
florist.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
When they see something in a ring they think
can I put in it?
The answer is yes.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
I love how on trend that is.
I didn't know about thisproduct.
I've been stuck in my ownproduct development with the
mass market.
But we have a wine favorproduct that I have developed
and it has a little succulentinside the box the wine favor
box and it encourages people toplant the succulent and so, yeah
, it's right on trend.
I love that.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Yeah, that's awesome.
That sounds super cute too.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Flowers and plants on one.
Yes me too, all day.
Also, you know, laura, I'm soimpressed with all of the
research and development thatSmithers Oasis does, because you
guys really spend a lot ofmoney and time and effort to be
at the forefront of not just newproducts coming out but also
the sustainability aspect andhow you can improve.
(28:41):
And I was just so impressedwith the different foam products
that you've recently come outwith and I know that you have
had them out for a little bitnow, but I think there's still a
lot of people that don'trealize the benefits and the
different foam products that youactually have, alternatives
that you have created.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
So we always like to say that we have something for
every designer's challenge,right.
And when we talk aboutsustainability, sustainability
means something different toeverybody.
Like you could stand up in aroom and say you know, what does
sustainability mean to you?
Does it mean social issues orenvironmental issues or economic
work and all of those types ofthings?
(29:22):
Those are all pieces and partsof sustainability.
But often when people think ofsustainability in our industry,
they often talk aboutenvironmental aspects of
sustainability and then fromthere you ask people to narrow
it in and say well, what exactlyis sustainable?
And you might get a myriad ofanswers.
Right, you might get somebodywho sustainability to them means
it's a natural product.
(29:44):
Somebody else might say, oh,it's more of an issue about is
it biodegradable or compostable,or what does the end of life
situation look like?
So as you talk to differentpeople, it's really hard to get
a good consensus on whatsustainability means and what a
good sustainable product is.
And so with that, I get peopleto.
Essentially they'll say to meall the time well, I don't know
(30:06):
how to describe it, but I'llknow it when I see it.
That's really great fordeveloping products, by the way.
I know it when I see it sohelpful, but really it smothers
away so we talk about havingsomething for every designer's
challenge.
So within our floral foam lineswe have our basic advantage plus
, which is really an entry pointprice fighter type of good foam
(30:27):
down and dirty kind of deal.
But then, as you look at ourother offerings, we have our
Oasis Floral Foam, max Life andMidnight, so the green and then
the black, which is the onlydegradable foam on the market.
So it degrades 75% in one year,which in earth time is nothing.
That's like nothing, right?
So we have our Max Life lineand then from there we also have
(30:49):
fiber floral, which fiberfloral is a more natural product
.
It's made from a spun fibers ofbasalt and rock that are heated
up and stretched and made intoa bit of a fibery situation.
And then from there we also haveOasis TerraBrick, which Oasis
TerraBrick is a compostablemedia.
It's certified by TUV Austria,or TUV, as I was just recently
(31:11):
told, that's how you actuallysay TUV Austria.
So it's certified compostablehome compost and industrial
compost.
So when you look at theSmithers Oasis line, whether
sustainability means natural toyou, we have it.
If it means compostable, wehave it.
If it means degradation, wehave it.
So we are definitely here tosupport every bit of the floral
journey and what people arelooking for.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
I love that.
I have noticed, like theEuropeans really enjoying the
TeraBrick and, you know, tryingto have the US florists, you
know, really really look intothat and really try it because
it's really interesting.
But it is interesting to see,you know, how Europe is.
Really I've seen a lot ofdesigners using the TeraBrick
and then a lot of designers herestarting to use the fiber
floral, so it's a win-win.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
Yeah, I mean, they're all really good, right?
So the TeraBrick it's got alearning curve, and that's what
I always tell people.
You need to be able to use itand get your hands on it to
really figure out how to use it,but once you get it, it is a
very cool product.
I know that it's something thatI use for my own designs quite
a bit, so I really do enjoy it.
And the same with theFiberFluoro, right, they're all
(32:18):
a little bit different and theyall have their place, you know,
and so I think that, no matterwhat you're looking for, we
definitely have an option forthat.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
You know I myself have had a lot of fun, you know,
experimenting with thedifferent foams.
I always like to make a pilothole.
We're talking about theFiberFoam.
I make a pilot hole before Iinsert heavier stems because
some people have had a lot ofproblems, you know, getting
their stems to insert and I justmake a pilot hole with my knife
and keep on going, and it's awonderful product.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Yeah, I find the same thing with the soft stems.
You know, like a calla lily orsomething.
If you try to just put it in,you're going to bend your stem,
it's not going to go right in.
But exactly what Beth said youjust have to do a little
pre-hole and then stick yourflower in and it's really
fabulous.
So hope everybody tries it.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
That's a great tip, but I will say that for all the
foam types.
Perfectly honest, as, like anew designer into the industry,
I love Oasis Midnight I reallydo, and I know the joke is that
if we would have known that foamcould have been black, it would
have never been green.
But I just look at it and OasisMidnight I mean.
People don't understand thatyou really can use so much less
product.
It's true, really as itdisappears, but here's my
favorite part about it is thatit keeps a new designer like
(33:27):
myself from overstuffing RightBecause yeah, it gives me
guardrails, so that when I'mdone with my design, I can be
done instead of going oh wait, Istill see great foam.
Oh my gosh, one more spot.
I Instead of going oh wait, Istill see great foam, oh my gosh
, one more spot.
I'm going to keep going and thenext thing, you know, I've got a
mess right and that probablyshould have never happened.
So I think Oasis Midnight it'sprobably out of all of our line,
(33:49):
it's probably my favorite andit's actually my first product
that I launched when I startedhere in 2018.
So maybe I've got a little bitof, I've got the feels for it,
just because it was, you know,my baby when I first started.
But I really, like somebodywill hand me a green brick of
foam and like what am I supposedto do with that?
Like, where's the black foam?
I'll take the black foam.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
When something, something, you said what foam
type are you?
That sounds like a greatmarketing quiz.
Like you know all the floristsand then you pick your favorite.
What personality are you?
What foam fits your personality?
That would be so fun to see.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
I love that.
Yeah, kelly, and I willdefinitely take that note you
can see it coming here, in thenear future.
Beth O'Reilly.
This is all you.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Well, that's really exciting.
I didn't know that that wasyour first product that you
brought out.
That was a good one to startwith yes, it was crazy.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
So, yes, it was crazy .
So I started in May of 2018.
And I pretty much started andthen the research and
development team was like, hey,we have this really cool thing,
okay, ready, go Right.
So I started in May and Ibrought this thing to AIFD and I
didn't even know what AIFD wasthen, or all the fanfare and
magic that happens at AIFD but Iheaded there with my new
(34:58):
product and my new marketing tolaunch it and then, finally, we
started shipping it then inOctober.
So it was a whirlwind, but itwas a really fun one.
But, yep, it was my firstproduct and so far, it's
probably been my favorite, and Idon't know if people know that
Smithers Oasis has over 1000products.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
I was surprised to hear that it was that huge.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
Yes, we have quite a few products and, to be honest
with you, we've got a few lessthan we used to.
So during the pandemicpre-pandemic we probably had
closer to 1400.
So we did cut some of themduring the pandemic, but we
still have so very many.
It is a product manager'sfull-time job, for sure, to keep
track of all of those SKUsmanagers you know full-time job
(35:41):
for sure, to keep track of allof those SKUs.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Well, speaking of a full-time job, so, beth, I don't
know how you manage all thetravel that you do and all the
different products that you doand you also have, like, a
family lives there, and how Imean I I hate to kind of ask
this question just to women,cause I we should be asking
these questions to men too buthow do you balance that?
I have a challenge.
When I'm traveling, I haveteenage boys and even though
(36:06):
they're teenagers, you know theystill need me and sometimes in
ways that they need me more nowthan even when they did when
they were little.
It's just different now.
But how do you manage so muchtravel and all the different
plates that you have to keep inthe air with, with a family life
?
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Well, first of all, I have a very supportive family
and I bring my mom into this too.
My mom is actually here rightnow, staying for a month because
we're going to be doing so muchtraveling.
So she's brought her dogsthere's five dogs in my house at
the moment and she'll bestaying back and taking care of
dogs and all these kinds ofthings while I'm traveling.
(36:45):
But you know my husband's verysupportive Sebastian has, he's
known me to be traveling sincethe day he was born.
Pretty much I did productdevelopment in China for five
years and Sebastian, I went backto work in China when Sebastian
was four months old andSebastian, I went back to work
in China when Sebastian was fourmonths old.
My mom built a nursery onto herhouse and I would fly from Los
Angeles, where we lived at thetime with the baby and bring him
(37:08):
to mom and then I would leaveto go to China for my mother's
and then I do the same thing onthe way back.
So without that support itwouldn't happen.
And yeah, there's times when Ijust want to focus on being a
mom, but you know I'm out heremaking a living very passionate
about what I'm doing and I havea lot of great support.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
And how wonderful to show your son what a strong,
successful woman looks like.
You know.
I think, it's really great tohave that opportunity for him to
grow up and see, you know, hismom being successful and really
excelling in her career.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
We got to we all have to do our part and I think you
know women out there working isjust.
I had a working mom, so for meit's natural.
I don't feel like I'm, you know, missing out on anything,
because I make sure all of thetimes that I need to be there, I
am there.
My son calls me, I don't carewhere I am in the world, I will
(38:03):
answer.
So you know and he knows that.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
So yeah, yeah.
I grew up.
My mother had retail children'sclothing stores.
So I grew up in the back of thestore on a little cot with my
little TV and I always tell myteam that I have this desire to
have a store, because I wouldlove to have a flower shop, you
know, but the reality of runninga retail shop isn't really
(38:27):
something in my talent deck, butgosh, do I love one.
How fun.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
Yeah, I'll be bringing Sebastian to Miami with
me tomorrow actually.
I'll be bringing Sebastian toMiami with me tomorrow actually,
and I'm excited to show him thebig coolers, the big floral
logistic coolers there, whereall of the flowers get shipped
out of Miami.
He's never seen that before.
So every chance I get, I bringhim along as well.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
How old is he now?
Speaker 3 (38:51):
He just turned 10 years old.
I can't believe it.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
You're going to turn around.
I see pictures of my sons, mysons and, like five, six years
ago, you know, it pops up onFacebook and your memories and
they were little boys.
And now it's just unbelievable,the change in the next few
years.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
I know it's going to go by quick.
He already seems like ateenager to me.
So he was yesterday cryingabout not having a phone and I
said well, we're not yet Well, ateenager wouldn't be crying, he
would be throwing things.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
You've had some interesting years ahead.
And now, laura, you recentlygot married, didn't you A few a
couple of years ago?
Speaker 4 (39:33):
Yes for sure.
So my husband and I, we've nowbeen married almost two years, I
guess.
So during the pandemic, when wehad to spend every last waking
second together.
You know there are some couplesthat throughout the pandemic
they just decided that, no, theyweren't going to make it right
and go their separate ways.
But really, for us, we realizedthat it turned out that we
(39:54):
really enjoyed spending timetogether.
Right, we enjoyed beingtogether every day and we
couldn't imagine not beingtogether.
So this is the most romanticproposal story.
Are you guys ready?
Yes, so romantic.
So one night we were working onour taxes and we were doing our
taxes.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
That just screams romance.
Speaker 4 (40:11):
Oh my gosh, it's the most romantic.
You guys will be so jealous.
So we're doing our taxes andcomplaining about taxes.
And at one point in time one ofus looked at our taxes and said
you know, we would be betteroff if we got married.
And somebody got caught up intoit and said, okay, sure, well,
I guess maybe we should getmarried.
Yeah, we should get married.
And so then the next morning wewake up, we look at each other
(40:34):
and we go are we engaged?
Speaker 2 (40:38):
and to be like okay, yeah, let's do it let's
definitely do it.
Speaker 4 (40:41):
So I feel like the 1040 easy is like the new
proposal so just so you knowthat I mean things are working
out so far, so good Well thereyou go.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
So far, so good.
Yes, when you think of taxesnow, think of, think of romance.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
I know, I know, yep.
So we got married and then wepromptly sold our house and we
moved.
So, smithers Oasis we are inKent, ohio, where Kent State
University is located.
So I live just 30 minutes fromthe home office, which is good,
and I live on a nice lake andall that stuff.
So, yeah, no, we've got quite alittle life.
No children for us, but we havea whole host of fur babies.
(41:19):
I always say we're cat people.
You know, there's dog peopleand there's cat people.
So we're cat people and myhusband and I we like to we
foster and take in and, oh mygoodness, we end up with pretty
much any animal that, any catthat needs a home or needs
medical care.
I mean, I feel like they allknow how to find us.
So, yeah, so no kids for us,just for babies.
(41:41):
And I say we're at maxcat-pacity so we can take no
more.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
I know it's easy to fall in love.
We just got a kitten the otherday.
Speaker 4 (41:54):
My kids have been waiting for a pet, so I'm just
instantly in love, especiallywhen they're so little and
bouncy and just you only haveone.
You know that one needs likethree more.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Someone else told me that I was like really people,
I'm just starting.
Speaker 4 (42:03):
Yes, yes.
And like one Emerson said thatone cat breeds another or
something brings another.
So yeah, you won't have justone.
And on TikTok, like there's thememes and the TikToks about the
universal cat distributionsystem, so I mean you will end
up with more than one.
They will find you, nita,they'll find you.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
I love it.
I love it.
The door's open.
Now Come on Pandora's boxsituation.
Love it.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
Well.
So I wanted to talk a littlebit about future trends, ladies,
because you guys are kind of onthe forefront of what's going
to be coming out new.
So, beth, you go first.
What do you think about comingout new?
You're more in the mass marketarea now, but I'd love to hear
kind of what you're thinkingabout, where forestry is going
and what new ideas are headedour way.
Speaker 3 (42:50):
Sure.
So some floral trends aretransient, they're not going to
be around for a super long time,and then there's some that they
stick and they keep growing andevolving.
And so I am most interested onthe ones that stick around and
evolve, because that's whatwe're looking for in my line of
work, obviously is, becausepeople are placing orders with
my customers a year in advance,so we want to make sure we're
(43:12):
bringing to trend things thatare going to be a lasting trend.
So I still find that theenhancement and this goes back
to the Design Master and all ofthat all the enhanced types of
product, they're not going away,they're only evolving, and the
color palettes that you can comeup with with using enhancements
as a tool is really wonderful.
And when you think about whatyou see in the supermarket
(43:35):
because that's the level thatI'm at a lot of times you're
just seeing bright and cheerful.
You're not necessarily seeing alot of complex color palettes,
but you will start to see those,I do believe, out in mass
market.
And one of the ways that wealso do this is by flower
varieties as well, and socarnations are ever a part of my
(43:57):
heart and my life, as apartnership with a breeder in
Columbia.
At our farm I am able to seenew varieties come out on the
market that took six years forthem to come to fruition and
50,000 seedlings just for onebecome a new variety, and that's
mind boggling to me anddefinitely worth talking about.
(44:18):
But the carnations and thecolors of carnations really lend
themselves to playing withcolor, and color is so important
when we're talking about trendthat I think that's really on
the forefront.
Of course there's differenttechniques and design styles
that are exciting.
We've seen the light and airycurvilinear design that has
really taken off Gosh.
(44:39):
That's been like eight yearsthat that has been building and
now we see a product, a design,that is very refined.
It used to be that it kind oflooked a little bit messy when
we were talking about this veryorganic, light and airy design.
When it first hit the market itwas a little bit messy and now
it's so beautiful and you guysshow all of these beautiful
(45:00):
designs in your magazine and Ilove to see all the trends in
the magazine.
So you know, having a backgroundin product development, we
would meet yearly, a coupletimes a year, about trends as a
team and discuss the colors, anda lot of things are cyclical
and we're bringing things backthat are classics and
reinventing them, and I see theyou know, modern Della Robbia.
(45:22):
We see a lot of this workingwith the fruit and the flowers
in a new and different way,where still lifes are very
modernized.
Now you see some of thesedesigns by designers that are
taking fruit and manipulating itin these amazing forms and
shapes with the flowers, and sothat's really on trend as well.
I could go on and on, as yousee.
Speaker 2 (45:45):
We love it so much to share.
But I agree about the breedingand you know that so much, so
many great varieties out there,but it's easy for us to just go,
oh, but when you really thinkabout all the work and research
and time, and how they have tothink so far ahead in science.
It's, it's amazing.
It just really does blow mymind, and I mean carnations,
(46:06):
what they used to just be white,red, you know whatever.
Now it's like oh my God, thecolors are amazing, amazing,
just absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3 (46:15):
Yeah, and I I've had the opportunity to see firsthand
this.
It's a laboratory where you seethe cuttings for each year of
the stage in development thatthey're at, and some of them
will never make it tocommercialization and they're
still so beautiful you justthink, oh, why?
Speaker 1 (46:34):
It is amazing to think that you know, sometimes
it takes 10, 20 years to bring anew flower to market.
For a breeder it's quite aninvestment in time and money and
passion.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
I find most of the people that are really into the
breeding.
They're so passionate aboutwhat they do and, as they talk
about even the cross-pollinationand how.
You know they're working onalstroemeria at Espitale, which
is our partner farm, and youknow they were aborting the
alstroemeria.
They were trying to get newvarieties and it was aborting
and they figured out this wayfor the plant not to abort and
(47:09):
it's so much like our own human.
You know what we go through ashumans and this is happening in
the plant world too.
It's just fascinating Veryfascinating.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
What about you, Miss Laura?
What would you like to tell usabout upcoming trends or things
that you're seeing in theindustry?
Speaker 4 (47:24):
Yeah, so a couple of things.
So, first of all, I want tojump on to what Beth said on the
color perspective.
It's so interesting.
Our team we just had a reallygood conversation on color and
color palettes are really, youknow, they're really going to be
coming in full force, right.
(47:50):
So we're all starting to get alittle bit I don't want to say
over the, you know, themonotones, the analogous and
that type of thing.
But we're going to start to seemore 3D color palettes, you
know, as we.
You know, maybe give ussomething that you know fits
very predictably around thecolor wheel, but then, you know,
maybe add some, you know,bright pinks with your a little,
you know, bright, little pinkwith your blush or some blue or
(48:13):
whatever.
But we're really going to startto see more interesting 3D
types of color palettes, which Ithink is really going to be
very exciting.
And same thing we were talkingabout, how that whole big, light
, airy garden style is startingto get tightened up with more
structure to it, right, we'restarting to get, you know, more
focal areas and that whole just,you know, big weedy thing that
(48:35):
we maybe didn't know where tolook is going to start to be,
you know, tightened up intosomething that's, you know,
probably a little bit morestructurally, you know, sound
for us in our brains.
But one thing that I've spent aton of time on as far as like
looking at trends and Jules andNita, you guys will know this we
have been doing an insaneamount of research on sympathy
(48:56):
trends, which is just absolutelycrazy.
So, and you guys were so kindand I know that you sent out a
survey on behalf of us andhelped with our research, and I
think we're going to gettogether another time and kind
of debrief some of that stuff.
But it has amazed me howsympathy in the US has changed
so much, and I found a reallygood quote that said American
(49:17):
death practices have shiftedmore in the last 10 years than
in the last 100.
Right, and so when I look athow floral trends are changing,
sympathy is one area that I amjust extremely jazzed to talk
about but a little terrifiedbecause where do we go next with
some of these things and how dowe make sure that we're
(49:37):
responding appropriately?
But really, so I've spent a tonof time last couple months on
my end just really looking atsympathy trends.
As we're saying, you know, we'reseeing less classic burials
that called for, like large setpieces, and we're seeing more of
the cremations and cremationsyou know called for, you know,
smaller pieces and differenttypes of things, and then even
(49:58):
into the celebrations of life,right.
So what's so interesting to meas far as like trends with
sympathy and it's a little bitof a morose topic, I know, but
when we look at the trends thatwe're seeing with sympathy,
retail florists need to bespending more time putting
together offerings and packagesthat can support a celebration
of life, right.
I see a real trend in thatspace going towards realizing
(50:21):
that all of those amazing eventpieces that you have can really
play very nicely within sympathy, right.
So a would, a trend that I'mreally seeing is that retail
florists can help to up theiraverage sale by thinking about
that celebration of life andtreating it more of some of
those components that they wouldhave for, you know, specific to
like, you know you knowcenterpieces and you know maybe
(50:43):
selling items for, like, a phototable or whatnot, because, as
sympathy is changing the ringthrough, the register for floral
is desperately impacted, right.
So I think that's one area thatwe're going to see pretty big
changes in over the next 10years and if, as an industry, we
don't make some efforts to helpto keep flowers in the
(51:04):
forefront of this space, I thinkwe're going to see our sympathy
dollars through the registerstart to decrease.
But we need to be creative aboutit right.
So we need to see where thedollars are going.
We need to understand how wecan help support, either with
talking to people aboutpre-planning or getting involved
in more alternative dispositionmethods.
(51:24):
You see all sorts of crazythings, but then especially
being able to tap into like thechanges in funeral rites,
especially when it comes to,like celebrations of life and
offering, like party decor andthat type of thing, it's really
interesting.
In the US, you know, ourfunerals show and celebrate how
we lived and, beth, youmentioned earlier that flowers
really embody the humanexperience and that's true, and
(51:47):
we see that there's no clearerway than to look at how flowers
are used then when we've passedand within those celebrations.
It's so true.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
I mean, flowers are really with us on our whole
journey.
In the beginning, our mothersget flowers when they have a
baby, and all through our life,even in our death, flowers are
always with us.
Speaker 2 (52:07):
Yeah, I totally agree , laura.
I think I've always enjoyedsympathy work because I like the
emotional connection of helpingpeople.
You know, many times I cried inmy shop.
I don't even know the personwho passed away, but I'm very
connected emotionally and Ithink the key is florist being
creative and showing thecustomer what's possible with
cremation and celebration oflife, where we've always just
(52:28):
had the old things, the standingspray, the, this, the that you
need to show them.
You have to have pictures of,you know, of different cremation
florals and people will buythem.
But I think that that's ourpart in the industry is to show
the customer that flowers arestill super important.
It's just going to be in adifferent way for sympathy.
Speaker 1 (52:46):
I love the new tutorial that we have in our
issue that we partnered withy'all with the serpentine
Cremation yeah Swish for thecremation urn.
That was beautiful.
It was such a creative use ofthe product too.
I thought yes for sure,definitely.
Speaker 4 (53:01):
But yeah, and it's interesting.
So when we were doing thisresearch we talked to funeral
directors, we talked to generalconsumers and how they use
florals for sympathy.
And then we talked to floristsright, and I interviewed it must
have been 45 florists and Iwill tell you, out of the 45
retail florists that said thatsympathy was a primary area that
they have a lot of business for, I would probably say 43 out of
(53:25):
45 of them were not happy withhow they were presenting
sympathy.
Like they would say, oh, mybook is too old.
I know I'm not capitalizing onthe new trends, I'll get to it
someday.
But you know, when we thinkabout I mean we think about
wedding, we all, you know, we doconsultations, we have we spend
money because weddings are bigticket items.
But I think that there's reallymore of an opportunity than we
(53:47):
probably realize, with some ofhow these changes that we've
seen in our death culture, toreally embody and support this
idea that you know, you've liveda good life and we're turning
into a more death positiveculture.
So I think that's a really bigopportunity for us to really
capitalize on that.
But it was amazing, everyretail florist I talked to
they'd go oh yeah, no, my bookis from like the 90s or the
early 2000s and oh yeah, no, mybook is from like the 90s or the
(54:07):
early 2000s and oh yeah, no.
I've just been using the sameimages for a really long time
and but I'll get to it, Ipromise.
Right?
So I think for a retail florist, that's, you know, trying to
see how to capitalize on a bigtrend of not even just a trend a
big cultural shift and change,getting themselves organized and
realizing how to, you know,support this very changing space
(54:29):
, I think is a real winner and areal cash cow?
Speaker 1 (54:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think this fall we have afeature on sympathy as well.
We usually in the fall do afeature on sympathy and I'm just
amazed at the creativity andsome of these celebration of
life pieces.
They're just so beautiful andpersonal, so wonderful.
Speaker 4 (54:47):
Yes, and personalization is 100% on the
rise, right?
So, and you're right, everypiece is developed to celebrate
a very unique person and a veryunique life.
So we've got some reallycreative things that we've seen,
and people are really at thetop of their game when they
think about how that they canexpress somebody's life through
flowers.
Speaker 3 (55:05):
Yeah, and I think we have a lot to thank Smithers
Oasis for you and your teamdoing all this research, and I'm
hearing these words deathpositive and you know, death
culture and things like that.
These are terms that we should,as florists, be discussing.
Speaker 4 (55:16):
I agree.
Well, beth, when you have fourhours in your life and you want
to sit around and talk aboutsympathy, you just let me know I
could go.
Oh, the things I know now aboutthis industry.
Speaker 1 (55:29):
Sounds like we need to get together, laura, I love
it.
I love it.
Ladies, thank you so much forjoining us.
It's been a wonderfulconversation.
We've enjoyed having you on.
We really appreciate youspending some time with us today
.
Thanks for having us.
Speaker 4 (55:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (55:38):
Yes, definitely, thank you.
Since 1897 in Chicago, floristReview has served the floral
industry.
We're thrilled to have this newpodcast medium to help expand
the conversation in our monthlyprint publications.
Visit our website,floristreviewcom to subscribe.
We greatly appreciate yoursupport and please join us for
(56:02):
the next episode of the FlowerHour with Florist Review.
Welcome to Episode 5 of Flower Hour with Florist
Review.
Hello Nita, how are you doingtoday?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I'm doing wonderful.
I love summer.
It's been a nice busy summer.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Right, we've had a busy summer.
We just got back from AIFD inOrlando.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
It was amazing, inspiring, as always.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Yeah, we had a full week of floral inspiration.
It was really amazing theartistry of the work at AIFD.
If you've never been as aflorist, I really recommend that
you take a trip and visitbecause it really elevates just
the whole profession offloristry into the artistic
realm.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I feel, oh, I agree, and I think it's, yeah, it's
inspiring, no matter what pointof the journey you're in in your
journey of floral, it's justinspiring.
Every year I go, there'ssomething new or something that
I want to try, and it's just agreat experience.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And seeing all the people that were there testing
it was, I was really blown away.
We were able to see wheneveryone had finished their work
.
You can go through and seeeveryone's finished product.
When everyone had finishedtheir work.
You can go through and seeeveryone's finished product and
I mean, I was just amazed.
I thought there was at least80% of the people should have
passed, because it was soimpressive that the creations
(01:14):
that they had made wereeverything.
Everyone was different andcompletely different, and just
the creativity in that room wasamazing and just the creativity
in that room was amazing.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
That's what I find so interesting is that they all
received the same flowers, thesame product and the same
project to create, but everytable was so different and it
just shows you.
You know that I mean to reallythink about that.
With all the same product, buteverything you know, they made
different choices, differentcombinations and it just really
is inspiring.
Yeah, I was really impressed.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yes, very much so, and you know, I think that in
many ways the floral industryhas been elevated in, especially
in the consumer's eyes, in away that maybe it hasn't been in
the past.
That the artistry that peoplecan create with flowers, the
beautiful installations forevents and even just bouquets,
the creativity and artistry thatgoes into the industry, I think
we're seeing a realappreciation in the general
(02:12):
public like maybe that hasn'tbeen there in the past.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I definitely agree.
I think that they're a lot moreopen to new and different,
where we've always been scaredto, you know, go outside of the
box and do something different.
But I do think that consumersare very excited and more open
to new ideas, new colors, newflowers, new ways of doing
things.
So it is exciting.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, I think it's a really exciting time to be a
florist and you know it's notlike we don't have challenges in
the industry.
We certainly have challenges.
We've heard recently there havebeen some challenges in the
California area with growerswho've had to cut back and had
severe layoffs of companies thatwe love and you know, hopefully
we'll see again and see themcome through.
(02:53):
But you know it's the sameproblems that we know in a lot
of industry it's pricing, it'sutility cost, it's labor cost
and you know, just having toshuffle all of that in the
floral industry and a lot ofpeople may not realize that
where flowers are mostly grownin the United States are in
Northern California and inWashington, and these areas are
(03:14):
also very popular areas forconsumers to want to live in
because they do have thetemperate temperatures.
And so the growers, you know,have to fight off the developers
and you know, with the big pileof money to take their flower
farm and turn it into adevelopment.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
The cost of living, yeah.
I mean it's something we alldeal with.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah.
So if you're wondering why yourflowers are up, that's one of
the reasons is that growers arehaving to really deal with
increases in electricity costand labor cost.
Unfortunately, they have toprice it up, so those are
reasons of why some of yourflowers are seeing an increase.
But still, it's a greatprofession and we love to
promote it.
(03:56):
And we have an exciting showtoday with two wonderful people
in the industry Beth O'Reilly,who we all admire and she works
with us a lot.
We just love working with her.
And Laura Walsh, the directorof marketing for Smithers Oasis
we love working with them aswell.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
They're both fabulous .
They bring so much to theindustry from two totally
different sectors of it, butthey have so much to offer and
we're so excited to hear aboutupcoming trends and what they're
seeing in the industry productdevelopment, I mean.
There's so much new stuffcoming to the market every day
and that's what I findinteresting.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, let's get to it .
Speaker 2 (04:30):
All right.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Today we have joining us the talented floral designer
, Beth O'Reilly, and Laura Walsh, the Director of Marketing with
Smithers Oasis North America.
Welcome, ladies.
Thanks for having us.
Yes, Thank you so much.
Oh, it's our pleasure.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
We're so excited.
Well, I have the pleasure ofintroducing our first guest, ms
Beth O'Reilly.
She's a certified Texas masterflorist and a member of the
American Institute of FloralDesign, along with many other
accolades.
Beth, you have been in theindustry for, I know, over 25
years and have experienced, youknow all parts of the industry,
(05:09):
which I find very interesting Ifyou'd tell us a little bit more
about how you got started andhow your journey began.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yes, and I do call it a floral journey.
That's really a great term forit.
I started doing flowers as an18 year old.
I was just going into college.
I was looking for a way to makesome extra money and floral
design kind of fell in my lapand at the time I was also
studying sculpture fine art,sculpture.
So I wanted to be an artist inthree dimensions and I was
(05:39):
surprised to find out how wellfloral design worked with my
sculpture classes and I foundmyself wiring and taping with
floral tape in class and makingthese small gestural sculptures
out of floral wire and tape.
So that's really how it gotstarted.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Love that.
See, I didn't know that aboutyou.
That's that that makes so muchsense.
Sculpture and art, you know itall goes together with floral
design.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Yeah, and I just kept going back to flowers every
time, no matter what art ormedium I was doing, it just was
always going back to flowers.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Wow, and you did have a retail shop at some point
during your journey correct.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
My mentor as a young florist was Kobe Neal and he
still is.
He still is my mentor.
He's a wonderful man, veryartistic.
He has helped many of us intoAIFD and, just you know,
promoting us as young designers.
At the time and Kobe and I wentinto business together and we
were doing high-end weddings andevents and retail and this was
(06:40):
in Austin, Texas, and some of myfavorite times of my life,
remembering back to those things.
We were doing guerrilla art onthe side of 6th Street where we
were taking these flowersculptures all around town and
just filming people's reactionto them.
So a lot of inspiration camefrom those days, Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I love that.
And then just tell us quicklywhat you're doing now in the
floral industry.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
So now I've jumped over to the mass market side of
the floral business, which isvery interesting to me.
This is where I have anopportunity to touch people's
lives with flowers in the masses, not just on the retail level.
So I think it's important toofor even our retail florists to
understand what the mass marketside does for floristry as a
whole, and I've really gotten tolearn that this last few years
(07:24):
with Duchess Bouquets.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Beth, and you travel quite a bit.
Beth, my goodness, we heardyour travel schedule was amazing
.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Well, this month is a little bit hairy but normally
it's not quite as much travel.
But I do travel a lot and inMarch I did a big trip over to
Columbia and we were in Medellinand Bogota and the Chia area
and just visiting all kinds offarms and really inspiring and
wonderful.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
It is.
I love visiting farms.
There's just there's nothinglike it.
When you get there and you seethe people who are tending to
the fields and just seeing youknow the process of how they
grow, it's a totally differentexperience than you know walking
into your wholesaler, obviouslyso yes, I'm a proponent of
anyone who gets a chance even ifit's a local farm get to the
farm, understand how things arehappening in the fields and the
(08:13):
harvesting and thepost-harvesting, the shipping,
all of that.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
It's just mind boggling that we're able to do
what we do.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
It really is so cool.
It's awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And also joining us.
Today.
We have Laura with SmithersOasis.
Laura, tell us a little bitabout your journey in marketing
You've been in marketing formany years and how you came to
your current role at SmithersOasis.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Yes, thank you, jules .
I appreciate the quickintroduction, so my story isn't
quite as beautiful as Beth's isthe sculpture and the art piece
of things.
So I grew up on an Angus cattlefarm.
So, yeah, so I grew up in anAngus cattle farm, like in the
Ohio Valley area.
My father still has the farmand I was a 4-H and FFA kid and
(08:58):
I have always deeply, deeplybelieved in the value of
agriculture.
So from there, I love that.
Yeah, isn't that really?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
amazing.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
I think that's beautiful.
Yeah, for sure it's really been.
My mission is to help furtherthe mission of agriculture.
So I went to college forbusiness and marketing and then
I found myself working in thelivestock and equine supplies
industry right, becauseagriculture was important and
then from there I did a littlebit of freelance marketing on,
like, the crop side and theneventually on the ag side.
(09:30):
I have now found what I like tobelieve is my forever home in
floriculture, which is justabsolutely amazing, and it's
that perfect blend of getting todo business and marketing,
supporting and furthering themission of ag, and it's so much
prettier and it smells better.
Let's be honest, you guys, itsmells so much better than
hanging around with cows andhorses.
(09:51):
But I've got this really.
I've got a really big creativeand artistic side to me too, and
so that's the other part that'sjust really drawn me into
floral and I love that.
It allows me to really be thebest version of Laura that I can
be and it really helps tocombine all the passions that I
have here at Smither's Oasis.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
That's wonderful, that you were able to find such
a wonderful match between yourchildhood loves and your
professional ambitions.
That's wonderful.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yes, for sure, and I always say that the best things
in life, they're you know,they're cultivated, they're bred
, they're cared for.
You know all of those, all ofthose good things.
And I always threaten and Itell my father all the time that
someday, when he's done with anAngus cattle farm, it's time to
turn it into a flower farm.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Oh, I love it.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Let's do it, let's get this going.
Good soil I love thatbackground.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I find that so interesting.
And, laura, what I findinteresting about you too is
knowing that you took a realdive into floral education this
last couple of years.
You know, I usually findsometimes the marketers they
don't quite understand theindustry in a whole, and
understanding floral design andall those things can only
benefit your marketing skills.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat, because I find that so, so
(11:01):
intriguing.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Yes, oh, my goodness.
So as the director of marketing, my team were responsible for
everything for North America,from our communications and
social and all the wonderfulthings that you see and you see
us out at a lot of events andpromotional things.
But we also handle all of theproduct development and product
commercialization.
So I took this role on withcommercialization and product
(11:25):
development.
Just a few years ago, probablyduring the pandemic.
This responsibility kind ofcame my direction and I realized
I didn't know enough, right?
So here we are, smithers, oasisand we're.
You know we're making coolthings and doing cool things,
and I needed more information.
I needed to understand how theproducts were used.
I needed to get a better feelfor all of the nuances of floral
(11:51):
design.
So I started doing a couplethings.
I would shadow weddings, Iwould start to use products on
the side, on my own, and then Ijust found that not only was it
really interesting but it wassuper fun.
So floral design was reallyinteresting and very fun to me.
So my partner in crime, kellyMace which I mean it would be a
shame if I was on this podcastand didn't mention her at some
(12:13):
point in time but so Kelly and I, we jumped into a lot of floral
study last year under thetutelage of Kevin Jovasek and
several of our other designdirector teams Frank Faiza,
Sharon McGook and all of thesepeople that really rallied
behind us to provide us allsorts of support and we decided
that we are going to test forAIFD.
Last year, so proud of you, didnot make it, that's okay.
(12:37):
I did not.
No, it's a huge step.
Oh, my goodness, you know whatmy hat is off to anybody who can
one have the like fortitude totest for AIFD.
It's an intense experience.
It's probably the hardest thingand most vulnerable thing I've
ever done and failed miserablyat, and so I think that's one
(12:58):
thing that's really interesting.
Like, as adults, we don't dothings that we're not good at.
Like we don't put ourselves outthere and do things that are
hard.
So, even though we didn't reallyget the outcome we were looking
for, we learned we learned alot about ourselves through the
process and really digging intoit.
It was a really it was awonderful time.
We really enjoyed ourselves andwe did walk away CFD and in
(13:19):
addition to that, I also got myPFCI last year.
Love that.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Congratulations.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Excited to talk about flowers all the time, and then
my AAF as well.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Wow, very impressive, very impressive.
And now I'm sure you have sucha better understanding of the
industry as a whole and thechallenges that designers go
through, so that you cantranslate that into new products
for Smithers Oasis oh for sure.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Can I just say I love the fact that you learned so
much doing the testing.
I always it's very much likecompeting.
I'm a big competitor.
So when you put yourself out inthat element where you're under
the time clock and you have tocreate with what you have, you
grow so much immensely.
So to me I would say, eventhough you might not have gotten
AIFD.
You did win.
(14:07):
That was a big win to just beable to do that.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Well, I appreciate that, Beth.
I'm not sure I'd ever do itagain.
We're just going to let my oneexperience be my one and only.
But you're right, and it was sointeresting, it was such a
vulnerable feeling, right, likeit was a vulnerable feeling to
have to be working with underthat time pressure.
And I know that we've gotanother round of PFDE that's
just coming up in a couple ofweeks.
So I mean, you know, all thosepeople are starting to feel the
(14:32):
pressure too, I'm sure, but aswe went through it with the time
pressure, it was really a lot.
But then the scariest part wasthe cocktail party.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Walking around.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
You know the next night after judging and
everybody's walking around.
Oh, I was like trying to takepeople away from my table, Like
anytime somebody would be likeLaura, where's your table?
What?
No, I think I'm over here inthis other corner.
Let's go.
It was a really vulnerablefeeling.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Oh, but that's why I'm so proud of you.
It's so true to put yourselfout in front of all those people
, especially that you alreadyknow.
You know what I mean All theseother educators and AIFD people.
You know it was vulnerable foryou to do that and but I give
you so much credit for thatbecause I know it really made
you grow.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
For sure, and I will say we did come up with all
sorts of new products.
I mean, I think over the nextcouple of years you're going to
see things that roll out thatare going to be directly
influenced by Kelly and I'sjourney through CFD.
Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Yeah, oh, that's exciting.
Well, tell us a little bitabout what are some of the newer
things that you all have comingout.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Yeah, thank you for asking, so we're starting to get
back in the swing of things.
I know nobody wants to talkabout COVID, so I'm not really
going to talk about it but weall know that there was
kind of a lull, let's not allknow that there was kind of a
lull let's not Exactly, therewas a little bit of a lull in
product development, right?
Because a lot of things stoppedand all that.
So I'm excited to say that weare, you know, working on new
(15:52):
things again.
I can't really, I'm not atliberty to mention a couple of
them, but just be on the lookout.
Over the next couple months.
Some really cool stuff isdefinitely coming, you know,
down the way here.
But I also wanted to say, somany of you guys know that,
smithers Oasis we acquiredDesign Master probably in 2021.
I really should know this as themarketing director, but now,
(16:12):
just recently, design Master hascome over to our team here in
North America and I have to tellyou what a cool product line
right Like.
I just can't get over it.
So it might not be new to youguys and Beth's probably like oh
yeah, I've been painting foryears, I know all of these
things, but I just can't getover what a cool line it is Like
.
When I think about all of youknow really turning you know
(16:35):
trash into cash when you haveold stems and you know covering
up blemishes or reallytransforming things into you
know new sellableable products,or even just going down into
your inventory of containers andbringing them back to life with
something with Design Master, Ihave to say that that's
probably.
I'm very, very excited that ourteam is now taking over
(16:55):
marketing that brand, because itis extremely cool.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Yeah, I think we can't do what we do as florists
without being able to enhancebotanicals and containers and
anything you can think of.
We are botanical artists.
We need that tool Mostdefinitely.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
And the inventory as far as availability.
Is it back on the shelves now?
I know because there was a lullin inventory with Design Master
.
How is that going?
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Yup, it's back in stock.
We're good to go.
I know there was this weirdpoint in time where I mean there
was like a ration and you hadto place super secret orders and
all that stuff that I don'teven really understand.
But the point is is that we areback in business and you can
get, you know, all of yourbeautiful blues and flat whites
and peaches and pinks and allthat good stuff.
(17:43):
It's, it's really it's comingout with a vengeance.
It's everywhere now.
Well, that's exciting.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I know there's going to be a lot of excited people
because there was, there was aneed, a real demand there and
people were screaming for it, sothey're going to be really
exciting.
And so, beth, I wanted to touchon your competitive nature.
Tell us a little bit about yourexperience in full bloom.
I know a lot of people saw youin that show and were so
impressed with your work andjust your general personality
(18:12):
and everything about you.
And tell us a little bit aboutthat, how you got involved and
what an exciting journey thatwas, my goodness, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
So I have this competitive bug that's in me and
I think it was instilled in me,you know, from my mentor, who I
mentioned before, kobe Neal.
The first time I competed wasfor the Texas Cup in like 2001.
And it just it's contagious.
So anytime I get the chance tocompete I love to.
And this opportunity came aboutto be to at least audition for
(18:44):
Full Bloom.
And this opportunity came aboutto be to at least audition for
Full Bloom and I found myselfmaking it through the final cut
and being on the show and thelast woman standing on the
seventh episode, I think it was.
So you know I would do it allover again.
It was absolutely wonderful.
God willing, I'll be like alittle old lady sitting back and
dreaming about that day, thevery first day on set, when we
(19:07):
walked up to a three-storyreplica painting.
We were going to paint a VanGogh painting out of flowers and
how that made me feel, justwalking up to this.
And we did it in four hours.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Wow, and what we had, what both teams had to show for
it at the end of the four hours, was just amazing and that
opportunity I mean it was a semitruck full of flowers for each
team to be able to create onthese lifts and replicate a
painting.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
It was so big too, it looked huge at least on the
show.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
It was three stories, it was giant, it was definitely
big.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Well, you know what part I loved Beth is?
I didn't know you personally atthat time but I knew you from
you know, seeing you around AIFD, and knew who you were.
And then I was watching thatshow and I'm like, oh my God,
it's Beth O'Reilly.
And we were watching and therewas one of the episodes and I
just so connected with youbecause I'm a woman and I'm a
mom.
But you spoke of your son andyou were sad because you were
away.
Because you know you, I'm sureyou had to be away for at least
(20:06):
who knows 30 days or maybelonger, yeah about a month and
you know, and you had a littlebreakdown, like any of us would,
but I literally cried on mycouch and just so felt your
emotion, you know of just.
You know we're florists, wetravel, I do it too and I love
my kids so much, you know, so I,I just I really connected with
you on that.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Just wanted you to know.
Well, and Sebastian is a truelover of flowers as well.
My husband tells me all thetime please, let's have him be a
doctor, not a florist orsomething.
But he loves flowers and he, hemakes flowers with me.
He knows the names of flowershe graduated from, from
preschool.
This was preschool.
All the little girls gotbouquets.
And you know what?
I forgot to bring him a bouquetand he had a meltdown in the
(20:50):
car and I said never again willI ever forget to bring my son
flowers at the end of anything,I don't care what it is.
If he's running a race or abasketball game, he will always
get flowers and he has a trueappreciation and love for nature
and flowers because it'ssomething we've experienced
together.
That's so sweet, I love thatthat's so cool.
It's pretty cool.
You know, flowers are theperfect metaphor for our own
(21:12):
human existence and there'snothing better to teach children
with than flowers the life andthe death cycle.
You know we're prone todegradation, yet we maintain
strength and sustenance, andI've really used floristry to
help teach him some of thosethings.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I love that and I think the connection to nature,
especially in today's kids'childhood, with so much
technology and so much all ofthat, it's like no, let's get
our fingers in the dirt.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
You know, play with some flowers and connect with
nature.
I think that that's reallyimportant.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
And I'm also really proud of him when I have flowers
sitting on the table and hecomes out and he says oh mom,
those anemones are so pretty.
Yeah, my nine year old knowswhat an anemone is.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, buddy, I always love when they get creative too
.
I had a retail shop and when mykids were little, you know, of
course I would have to drag themalong here and there, and
sometimes I wouldn't be looking,but I noticed.
Oh, my daughter was watchingwhat I do, because she was
taking Oasis floral wire andmaking these like armatures and
(22:12):
I mean, she was like five or sixand I was like that's really
cool.
The creativity, yeah, it'ssuper, super awesome.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
But he was pretty proud of his mom for being on
that show too.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Oh, as he should be.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
I call it kind of like my few minutes of fame, but
, man, we made some greatconnections with other people on
the show, lifelong friendships,and it was really something
that was special, I think, forthe industry as a whole too, to
see, you know, a major TV showcome out about what we do.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
That was a big yeah, a big thing.
It's nice to see it, nice tosee you know, so other people
can see what we do and howamazing it is.
Love that.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
So tell us, Beth, what are some of the
accomplishments in your careerthat you're most proud of.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
So I am most proud of inspiring others through
flowers and having themexperience flowers in a way that
they never imagined before.
That would be the high in thehierarchy of what I'm proud of.
That would be it, and I've donethat many ways.
The TV show is one.
I'm always amazed how manypeople kind of come out of the
woodwork and and say, oh my God,I watched this video.
I watched that video.
(23:10):
I was a Mayesh design star atone point in time and did a
whole series of videos and youknow I'll walk into a wholesaler
and think I don't know anybody.
And all of a sudden I have somany friends, even people who
are just flower enthusiasts, whohave reached out to me on
social media and love flowers,and I've given them some sort of
inspiration.
So for me that's my bestaccomplishment.
(23:32):
Yes, there's shows, there'scompetitions that I've won, but
really just having peopleexperience the beauty and the
joy of flowers.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Well, what's so great about you, beth, is you're
really reachable, meaning like.
You know, beth O'Reilly that'sa big name to a lot of us, you
know, but you're so personable,You're so when I finally did
meet you and I was like, oh myGod, it's Beth O'Reilly and it's
like, oh, she's just a human,you know, like she, you're just
so.
She doesn't have the diva-nessabout her.
You know she's so, I don't know.
(23:59):
You're very wound to earth andit makes a difference, and
you're so wonderful.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
We love working with you.
You're so easy to work with.
Your work is always great.
It's on time, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
She's responsible.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
I mean, the list goes on.
Well, I've washed buckets justlike everyone I think that's in
this industry and I've gotten,you know, stitches on
Valentine's Day for using my newknife the wrong way, and just
all kinds of things I think thateverybody can relate to.
And yeah, we're all kind of inthe same floral family, so I
love that.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
I love that.
Now, laura.
Last time I was at an Oasisbooth, I think I saw a new kind
of twine that you guys werecarrying.
I don't know if it was hemp, orcan you tell us a little bit
about what that product was,cause it looked very interesting
?
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Yeah, for sure.
So we have just recently comeout with some new line of more
natural products.
So it's a line of we've gotsome new bamboo card holders and
picks and things like that.
But the twine that youspecifically saw, it's called
self-sticking twine, right?
So it's a hemp covered in likea beeswax type of deal and it
sticks to itself.
(25:06):
Thus the self-sticking.
How clever of us, right?
So thus the self-sticking twine.
But what I really love aboutthat product is it's really
great.
Some people say, well, you know,I already have bind wire.
Like what do I need aself-sticking twine for?
Right?
But it's really more forgivingand it lets you have, like, it
moves faster and it reallycreates a good bond, whereas we
(25:26):
know how wire can be right, itcan get a little sticky, a
little stuck and things likethat, whereas the self-sticking
twine just really creates areally good, a really good seal
when you use it, especially ifyou're using it on a bouquet or
you're using it, you know, forsome sort of binding kind of
technique.
It's a very cool product.
I'd recommend it.
It comes in three colors, Ibelieve it.
There's like a natural, a blackand like a white, maybe like an
(25:48):
off-white type of color, butall of them are really awesome
and something that you shouldcheck out so now I'm excited to
try that when you're.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I didn't know about this product and I do a lot of
armatures and a lot of times ifyou're trying to bind two points
together with wire, you willget some looseness.
After you know, things kind ofshift in the weight and the
gravity shifts and then it's nottight anymore.
So it sounds like that is awinner.
I want to try some of that,laura.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Yes, I love that yes, and just as you've described it
right.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
So you won't get those extra pieces at the end,
and if you do, you just stick itto itself.
Problem solved.
Very cool, yeah, I'm alwaysimpressed with the new things
that are coming out.
I also saw that you made one ofthe wine holders, you know, out
of foam that goes around a winebottle the big, you know,
social media craze.
But at least you've, you know,invented a mechanic that
actually works, rather thanpeople just jamming a big piece
of foam on top of a wine bottle.
So I do thank you for that.
(26:45):
But I saw that at a recent showtoo.
So it's always neat to see whatyou're coming out with next.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Yeah, and so that's our bottles up and what I like
about it.
There's two ways you can use it.
So the bottles up there's asmall one that can go on the
neck and you can design and makeit absolutely beautiful.
Or we have one that you can puton the base and you can
actually sink the wine bottleinto it and it holds pretty well
, right?
So I mean, if you've got like aginormous based champagne
(27:12):
bottle, that's insane, probablynot, but like a normal size wine
bottle or champagne bottlewould be just fine.
But then what's cool about it isit creates really beautiful
table decor, but you can pick itup and move it.
So like you could pick up thatbottle of wine and serve and
then put it back down.
Or even if you use it for awedding or an event, same thing,
right, you could, yourwaitstaff could walk around with
(27:33):
these very beautifullydecorated bottles, like.
It's a very cool product.
We're very excited.
And other ones on the marketwhich are very cool too, they
only have the top piece, right,they only have the small neck
one.
So having the neck and the baseone really kind of really opens
up your options for what youcan do, and I mean it's great
for candles too.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
That's what I was going to say I feel like every
florist.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
When they see something in a ring they think
can I put in it?
The answer is yes.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
I love how on trend that is.
I didn't know about thisproduct.
I've been stuck in my ownproduct development with the
mass market.
But we have a wine favorproduct that I have developed
and it has a little succulentinside the box the wine favor
box and it encourages people toplant the succulent and so, yeah
, it's right on trend.
I love that.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Yeah, that's awesome.
That sounds super cute too.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Flowers and plants on one.
Yes me too, all day.
Also, you know, laura, I'm soimpressed with all of the
research and development thatSmithers Oasis does, because you
guys really spend a lot ofmoney and time and effort to be
at the forefront of not just newproducts coming out but also
the sustainability aspect andhow you can improve.
(28:41):
And I was just so impressedwith the different foam products
that you've recently come outwith and I know that you have
had them out for a little bitnow, but I think there's still a
lot of people that don'trealize the benefits and the
different foam products that youactually have, alternatives
that you have created.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
So we always like to say that we have something for
every designer's challenge,right.
And when we talk aboutsustainability, sustainability
means something different toeverybody.
Like you could stand up in aroom and say you know, what does
sustainability mean to you?
Does it mean social issues orenvironmental issues or economic
work and all of those types ofthings?
(29:22):
Those are all pieces and partsof sustainability.
But often when people think ofsustainability in our industry,
they often talk aboutenvironmental aspects of
sustainability and then fromthere you ask people to narrow
it in and say well, what exactlyis sustainable?
And you might get a myriad ofanswers.
Right, you might get somebodywho sustainability to them means
it's a natural product.
(29:44):
Somebody else might say, oh,it's more of an issue about is
it biodegradable or compostable,or what does the end of life
situation look like?
So as you talk to differentpeople, it's really hard to get
a good consensus on whatsustainability means and what a
good sustainable product is.
And so with that, I get peopleto.
Essentially they'll say to meall the time well, I don't know
(30:06):
how to describe it, but I'llknow it when I see it.
That's really great fordeveloping products, by the way.
I know it when I see it sohelpful, but really it smothers
away so we talk about havingsomething for every designer's
challenge.
So within our floral foam lineswe have our basic advantage plus
, which is really an entry pointprice fighter type of good foam
(30:27):
down and dirty kind of deal.
But then, as you look at ourother offerings, we have our
Oasis Floral Foam, max Life andMidnight, so the green and then
the black, which is the onlydegradable foam on the market.
So it degrades 75% in one year,which in earth time is nothing.
That's like nothing, right?
So we have our Max Life lineand then from there we also have
(30:49):
fiber floral, which fiberfloral is a more natural product
.
It's made from a spun fibers ofbasalt and rock that are heated
up and stretched and made intoa bit of a fibery situation.
And then from there we also haveOasis TerraBrick, which Oasis
TerraBrick is a compostablemedia.
It's certified by TUV Austria,or TUV, as I was just recently
(31:11):
told, that's how you actuallysay TUV Austria.
So it's certified compostablehome compost and industrial
compost.
So when you look at theSmithers Oasis line, whether
sustainability means natural toyou, we have it.
If it means compostable, wehave it.
If it means degradation, wehave it.
So we are definitely here tosupport every bit of the floral
journey and what people arelooking for.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
I love that.
I have noticed, like theEuropeans really enjoying the
TeraBrick and, you know, tryingto have the US florists, you
know, really really look intothat and really try it because
it's really interesting.
But it is interesting to see,you know, how Europe is.
Really I've seen a lot ofdesigners using the TeraBrick
and then a lot of designers herestarting to use the fiber
floral, so it's a win-win.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
Yeah, I mean, they're all really good, right?
So the TeraBrick it's got alearning curve, and that's what
I always tell people.
You need to be able to use itand get your hands on it to
really figure out how to use it,but once you get it, it is a
very cool product.
I know that it's something thatI use for my own designs quite
a bit, so I really do enjoy it.
And the same with theFiberFluoro, right, they're all
(32:18):
a little bit different and theyall have their place, you know,
and so I think that, no matterwhat you're looking for, we
definitely have an option forthat.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
You know I myself have had a lot of fun, you know,
experimenting with thedifferent foams.
I always like to make a pilothole.
We're talking about theFiberFoam.
I make a pilot hole before Iinsert heavier stems because
some people have had a lot ofproblems, you know, getting
their stems to insert and I justmake a pilot hole with my knife
and keep on going, and it's awonderful product.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Yeah, I find the same thing with the soft stems.
You know, like a calla lily orsomething.
If you try to just put it in,you're going to bend your stem,
it's not going to go right in.
But exactly what Beth said youjust have to do a little
pre-hole and then stick yourflower in and it's really
fabulous.
So hope everybody tries it.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
That's a great tip, but I will say that for all the
foam types.
Perfectly honest, as, like anew designer into the industry,
I love Oasis Midnight I reallydo, and I know the joke is that
if we would have known that foamcould have been black, it would
have never been green.
But I just look at it and OasisMidnight I mean.
People don't understand thatyou really can use so much less
product.
It's true, really as itdisappears, but here's my
favorite part about it is thatit keeps a new designer like
(33:27):
myself from overstuffing RightBecause yeah, it gives me
guardrails, so that when I'mdone with my design, I can be
done instead of going oh wait, Istill see great foam.
Oh my gosh, one more spot.
I Instead of going oh wait, Istill see great foam, oh my gosh
, one more spot.
I'm going to keep going and thenext thing, you know, I've got a
mess right and that probablyshould have never happened.
So I think Oasis Midnight it'sprobably out of all of our line,
(33:49):
it's probably my favorite andit's actually my first product
that I launched when I startedhere in 2018.
So maybe I've got a little bitof, I've got the feels for it,
just because it was, you know,my baby when I first started.
But I really, like somebodywill hand me a green brick of
foam and like what am I supposedto do with that?
Like, where's the black foam?
I'll take the black foam.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
When something, something, you said what foam
type are you?
That sounds like a greatmarketing quiz.
Like you know all the floristsand then you pick your favorite.
What personality are you?
What foam fits your personality?
That would be so fun to see.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
I love that.
Yeah, kelly, and I willdefinitely take that note you
can see it coming here, in thenear future.
Beth O'Reilly.
This is all you.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Well, that's really exciting.
I didn't know that that wasyour first product that you
brought out.
That was a good one to startwith yes, it was crazy.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
So, yes, it was crazy .
So I started in May of 2018.
And I pretty much started andthen the research and
development team was like, hey,we have this really cool thing,
okay, ready, go Right.
So I started in May and Ibrought this thing to AIFD and I
didn't even know what AIFD wasthen, or all the fanfare and
magic that happens at AIFD but Iheaded there with my new
(34:58):
product and my new marketing tolaunch it and then, finally, we
started shipping it then inOctober.
So it was a whirlwind, but itwas a really fun one.
But, yep, it was my firstproduct and so far, it's
probably been my favorite, and Idon't know if people know that
Smithers Oasis has over 1000products.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
I was surprised to hear that it was that huge.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
Yes, we have quite a few products and, to be honest
with you, we've got a few lessthan we used to.
So during the pandemicpre-pandemic we probably had
closer to 1400.
So we did cut some of themduring the pandemic, but we
still have so very many.
It is a product manager'sfull-time job, for sure, to keep
track of all of those SKUsmanagers you know full-time job
(35:41):
for sure, to keep track of allof those SKUs.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Well, speaking of a full-time job, so, beth, I don't
know how you manage all thetravel that you do and all the
different products that you doand you also have, like, a
family lives there, and how Imean I I hate to kind of ask
this question just to women,cause I we should be asking
these questions to men too buthow do you balance that?
I have a challenge.
When I'm traveling, I haveteenage boys and even though
(36:06):
they're teenagers, you know theystill need me and sometimes in
ways that they need me more nowthan even when they did when
they were little.
It's just different now.
But how do you manage so muchtravel and all the different
plates that you have to keep inthe air with, with a family life
?
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Well, first of all, I have a very supportive family
and I bring my mom into this too.
My mom is actually here rightnow, staying for a month because
we're going to be doing so muchtraveling.
So she's brought her dogsthere's five dogs in my house at
the moment and she'll bestaying back and taking care of
dogs and all these kinds ofthings while I'm traveling.
(36:45):
But you know my husband's verysupportive Sebastian has, he's
known me to be traveling sincethe day he was born.
Pretty much I did productdevelopment in China for five
years and Sebastian, I went backto work in China when Sebastian
was four months old andSebastian, I went back to work
in China when Sebastian was fourmonths old.
My mom built a nursery onto herhouse and I would fly from Los
Angeles, where we lived at thetime with the baby and bring him
(37:08):
to mom and then I would leaveto go to China for my mother's
and then I do the same thing onthe way back.
So without that support itwouldn't happen.
And yeah, there's times when Ijust want to focus on being a
mom, but you know I'm out heremaking a living very passionate
about what I'm doing and I havea lot of great support.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
And how wonderful to show your son what a strong,
successful woman looks like.
You know.
I think, it's really great tohave that opportunity for him to
grow up and see, you know, hismom being successful and really
excelling in her career.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
We got to we all have to do our part and I think you
know women out there working isjust.
I had a working mom, so for meit's natural.
I don't feel like I'm, you know, missing out on anything,
because I make sure all of thetimes that I need to be there, I
am there.
My son calls me, I don't carewhere I am in the world, I will
(38:03):
answer.
So you know and he knows that.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
So yeah, yeah.
I grew up.
My mother had retail children'sclothing stores.
So I grew up in the back of thestore on a little cot with my
little TV and I always tell myteam that I have this desire to
have a store, because I wouldlove to have a flower shop, you
know, but the reality of runninga retail shop isn't really
(38:27):
something in my talent deck, butgosh, do I love one.
How fun.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
Yeah, I'll be bringing Sebastian to Miami with
me tomorrow actually.
I'll be bringing Sebastian toMiami with me tomorrow actually,
and I'm excited to show him thebig coolers, the big floral
logistic coolers there, whereall of the flowers get shipped
out of Miami.
He's never seen that before.
So every chance I get, I bringhim along as well.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
How old is he now?
Speaker 3 (38:51):
He just turned 10 years old.
I can't believe it.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
You're going to turn around.
I see pictures of my sons, mysons and, like five, six years
ago, you know, it pops up onFacebook and your memories and
they were little boys.
And now it's just unbelievable,the change in the next few
years.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
I know it's going to go by quick.
He already seems like ateenager to me.
So he was yesterday cryingabout not having a phone and I
said well, we're not yet Well, ateenager wouldn't be crying, he
would be throwing things.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
You've had some interesting years ahead.
And now, laura, you recentlygot married, didn't you A few a
couple of years ago?
Speaker 4 (39:33):
Yes for sure.
So my husband and I, we've nowbeen married almost two years, I
guess.
So during the pandemic, when wehad to spend every last waking
second together.
You know there are some couplesthat throughout the pandemic
they just decided that, no, theyweren't going to make it right
and go their separate ways.
But really, for us, we realizedthat it turned out that we
(39:54):
really enjoyed spending timetogether.
Right, we enjoyed beingtogether every day and we
couldn't imagine not beingtogether.
So this is the most romanticproposal story.
Are you guys ready?
Yes, so romantic.
So one night we were working onour taxes and we were doing our
taxes.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
That just screams romance.
Speaker 4 (40:11):
Oh my gosh, it's the most romantic.
You guys will be so jealous.
So we're doing our taxes andcomplaining about taxes.
And at one point in time one ofus looked at our taxes and said
you know, we would be betteroff if we got married.
And somebody got caught up intoit and said, okay, sure, well,
I guess maybe we should getmarried.
Yeah, we should get married.
And so then the next morning wewake up, we look at each other
(40:34):
and we go are we engaged?
Speaker 2 (40:38):
and to be like okay, yeah, let's do it let's
definitely do it.
Speaker 4 (40:41):
So I feel like the 1040 easy is like the new
proposal so just so you knowthat I mean things are working
out so far, so good Well thereyou go.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
So far, so good.
Yes, when you think of taxesnow, think of, think of romance.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
I know, I know, yep.
So we got married and then wepromptly sold our house and we
moved.
So, smithers Oasis we are inKent, ohio, where Kent State
University is located.
So I live just 30 minutes fromthe home office, which is good,
and I live on a nice lake andall that stuff.
So, yeah, no, we've got quite alittle life.
No children for us, but we havea whole host of fur babies.
(41:19):
I always say we're cat people.
You know, there's dog peopleand there's cat people.
So we're cat people and myhusband and I we like to we
foster and take in and, oh mygoodness, we end up with pretty
much any animal that, any catthat needs a home or needs
medical care.
I mean, I feel like they allknow how to find us.
So, yeah, so no kids for us,just for babies.
(41:41):
And I say we're at maxcat-pacity so we can take no
more.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
I know it's easy to fall in love.
We just got a kitten the otherday.
Speaker 4 (41:54):
My kids have been waiting for a pet, so I'm just
instantly in love, especiallywhen they're so little and
bouncy and just you only haveone.
You know that one needs likethree more.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Someone else told me that I was like really people,
I'm just starting.
Speaker 4 (42:03):
Yes, yes.
And like one Emerson said thatone cat breeds another or
something brings another.
So yeah, you won't have justone.
And on TikTok, like there's thememes and the TikToks about the
universal cat distributionsystem, so I mean you will end
up with more than one.
They will find you, nita,they'll find you.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
I love it.
I love it.
The door's open.
Now Come on Pandora's boxsituation.
Love it.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
Well.
So I wanted to talk a littlebit about future trends, ladies,
because you guys are kind of onthe forefront of what's going
to be coming out new.
So, beth, you go first.
What do you think about comingout new?
You're more in the mass marketarea now, but I'd love to hear
kind of what you're thinkingabout, where forestry is going
and what new ideas are headedour way.
Speaker 3 (42:50):
Sure.
So some floral trends aretransient, they're not going to
be around for a super long time,and then there's some that they
stick and they keep growing andevolving.
And so I am most interested onthe ones that stick around and
evolve, because that's whatwe're looking for in my line of
work, obviously is, becausepeople are placing orders with
my customers a year in advance,so we want to make sure we're
(43:12):
bringing to trend things thatare going to be a lasting trend.
So I still find that theenhancement and this goes back
to the Design Master and all ofthat all the enhanced types of
product, they're not going away,they're only evolving, and the
color palettes that you can comeup with with using enhancements
as a tool is really wonderful.
And when you think about whatyou see in the supermarket
(43:35):
because that's the level thatI'm at a lot of times you're
just seeing bright and cheerful.
You're not necessarily seeing alot of complex color palettes,
but you will start to see those,I do believe, out in mass
market.
And one of the ways that wealso do this is by flower
varieties as well, and socarnations are ever a part of my
(43:57):
heart and my life, as apartnership with a breeder in
Columbia.
At our farm I am able to seenew varieties come out on the
market that took six years forthem to come to fruition and
50,000 seedlings just for onebecome a new variety, and that's
mind boggling to me anddefinitely worth talking about.
(44:18):
But the carnations and thecolors of carnations really lend
themselves to playing withcolor, and color is so important
when we're talking about trendthat I think that's really on
the forefront.
Of course there's differenttechniques and design styles
that are exciting.
We've seen the light and airycurvilinear design that has
really taken off Gosh.
(44:39):
That's been like eight yearsthat that has been building and
now we see a product, a design,that is very refined.
It used to be that it kind oflooked a little bit messy when
we were talking about this veryorganic, light and airy design.
When it first hit the market itwas a little bit messy and now
it's so beautiful and you guysshow all of these beautiful
(45:00):
designs in your magazine and Ilove to see all the trends in
the magazine.
So you know, having a backgroundin product development, we
would meet yearly, a coupletimes a year, about trends as a
team and discuss the colors, anda lot of things are cyclical
and we're bringing things backthat are classics and
reinventing them, and I see theyou know, modern Della Robbia.
(45:22):
We see a lot of this workingwith the fruit and the flowers
in a new and different way,where still lifes are very
modernized.
Now you see some of thesedesigns by designers that are
taking fruit and manipulating itin these amazing forms and
shapes with the flowers, and sothat's really on trend as well.
I could go on and on, as yousee.
Speaker 2 (45:45):
We love it so much to share.
But I agree about the breedingand you know that so much, so
many great varieties out there,but it's easy for us to just go,
oh, but when you really thinkabout all the work and research
and time, and how they have tothink so far ahead in science.
It's, it's amazing.
It just really does blow mymind, and I mean carnations,
(46:06):
what they used to just be white,red, you know whatever.
Now it's like oh my God, thecolors are amazing, amazing,
just absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3 (46:15):
Yeah, and I I've had the opportunity to see firsthand
this.
It's a laboratory where you seethe cuttings for each year of
the stage in development thatthey're at, and some of them
will never make it tocommercialization and they're
still so beautiful you justthink, oh, why?
Speaker 1 (46:34):
It is amazing to think that you know, sometimes
it takes 10, 20 years to bring anew flower to market.
For a breeder it's quite aninvestment in time and money and
passion.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
I find most of the people that are really into the
breeding.
They're so passionate aboutwhat they do and, as they talk
about even the cross-pollinationand how.
You know they're working onalstroemeria at Espitale, which
is our partner farm, and youknow they were aborting the
alstroemeria.
They were trying to get newvarieties and it was aborting
and they figured out this wayfor the plant not to abort and
(47:09):
it's so much like our own human.
You know what we go through ashumans and this is happening in
the plant world too.
It's just fascinating Veryfascinating.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
What about you, Miss Laura?
What would you like to tell usabout upcoming trends or things
that you're seeing in theindustry?
Speaker 4 (47:24):
Yeah, so a couple of things.
So, first of all, I want tojump on to what Beth said on the
color perspective.
It's so interesting.
Our team we just had a reallygood conversation on color and
color palettes are really, youknow, they're really going to be
coming in full force, right.
(47:50):
So we're all starting to get alittle bit I don't want to say
over the, you know, themonotones, the analogous and
that type of thing.
But we're going to start to seemore 3D color palettes, you
know, as we.
You know, maybe give ussomething that you know fits
very predictably around thecolor wheel, but then, you know,
maybe add some, you know,bright pinks with your a little,
you know, bright, little pinkwith your blush or some blue or
(48:13):
whatever.
But we're really going to startto see more interesting 3D
types of color palettes, which Ithink is really going to be
very exciting.
And same thing we were talkingabout, how that whole big, light
, airy garden style is startingto get tightened up with more
structure to it, right, we'restarting to get, you know, more
focal areas and that whole just,you know, big weedy thing that
(48:35):
we maybe didn't know where tolook is going to start to be,
you know, tightened up intosomething that's, you know,
probably a little bit morestructurally, you know, sound
for us in our brains.
But one thing that I've spent aton of time on as far as like
looking at trends and Jules andNita, you guys will know this we
have been doing an insaneamount of research on sympathy
(48:56):
trends, which is just absolutelycrazy.
So, and you guys were so kindand I know that you sent out a
survey on behalf of us andhelped with our research, and I
think we're going to gettogether another time and kind
of debrief some of that stuff.
But it has amazed me howsympathy in the US has changed
so much, and I found a reallygood quote that said American
(49:17):
death practices have shiftedmore in the last 10 years than
in the last 100.
Right, and so when I look athow floral trends are changing,
sympathy is one area that I amjust extremely jazzed to talk
about but a little terrifiedbecause where do we go next with
some of these things and how dowe make sure that we're
(49:37):
responding appropriately?
But really, so I've spent a tonof time last couple months on
my end just really looking atsympathy trends.
As we're saying, you know, we'reseeing less classic burials
that called for, like large setpieces, and we're seeing more of
the cremations and cremationsyou know called for, you know,
smaller pieces and differenttypes of things, and then even
(49:58):
into the celebrations of life,right.
So what's so interesting to meas far as like trends with
sympathy and it's a little bitof a morose topic, I know, but
when we look at the trends thatwe're seeing with sympathy,
retail florists need to bespending more time putting
together offerings and packagesthat can support a celebration
of life, right.
I see a real trend in thatspace going towards realizing
(50:21):
that all of those amazing eventpieces that you have can really
play very nicely within sympathy, right.
So a would, a trend that I'mreally seeing is that retail
florists can help to up theiraverage sale by thinking about
that celebration of life andtreating it more of some of
those components that they wouldhave for, you know, specific to
like, you know you knowcenterpieces and you know maybe
(50:43):
selling items for, like, a phototable or whatnot, because, as
sympathy is changing the ringthrough, the register for floral
is desperately impacted, right.
So I think that's one area thatwe're going to see pretty big
changes in over the next 10years and if, as an industry, we
don't make some efforts to helpto keep flowers in the
(51:04):
forefront of this space, I thinkwe're going to see our sympathy
dollars through the registerstart to decrease.
But we need to be creative aboutit right.
So we need to see where thedollars are going.
We need to understand how wecan help support, either with
talking to people aboutpre-planning or getting involved
in more alternative dispositionmethods.
(51:24):
You see all sorts of crazythings, but then especially
being able to tap into like thechanges in funeral rites,
especially when it comes to,like celebrations of life and
offering, like party decor andthat type of thing, it's really
interesting.
In the US, you know, ourfunerals show and celebrate how
we lived and, beth, youmentioned earlier that flowers
really embody the humanexperience and that's true, and
(51:47):
we see that there's no clearerway than to look at how flowers
are used then when we've passedand within those celebrations.
It's so true.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
I mean, flowers are really with us on our whole
journey.
In the beginning, our mothersget flowers when they have a
baby, and all through our life,even in our death, flowers are
always with us.
Speaker 2 (52:07):
Yeah, I totally agree , laura.
I think I've always enjoyedsympathy work because I like the
emotional connection of helpingpeople.
You know, many times I cried inmy shop.
I don't even know the personwho passed away, but I'm very
connected emotionally and Ithink the key is florist being
creative and showing thecustomer what's possible with
cremation and celebration oflife, where we've always just
(52:28):
had the old things, the standingspray, the, this, the that you
need to show them.
You have to have pictures of,you know, of different cremation
florals and people will buythem.
But I think that that's ourpart in the industry is to show
the customer that flowers arestill super important.
It's just going to be in adifferent way for sympathy.
Speaker 1 (52:46):
I love the new tutorial that we have in our
issue that we partnered withy'all with the serpentine
Cremation yeah Swish for thecremation urn.
That was beautiful.
It was such a creative use ofthe product too.
I thought yes for sure,definitely.
Speaker 4 (53:01):
But yeah, and it's interesting.
So when we were doing thisresearch we talked to funeral
directors, we talked to generalconsumers and how they use
florals for sympathy.
And then we talked to floristsright, and I interviewed it must
have been 45 florists and Iwill tell you, out of the 45
retail florists that said thatsympathy was a primary area that
they have a lot of business for, I would probably say 43 out of
(53:25):
45 of them were not happy withhow they were presenting
sympathy.
Like they would say, oh, mybook is too old.
I know I'm not capitalizing onthe new trends, I'll get to it
someday.
But you know, when we thinkabout I mean we think about
wedding, we all, you know, we doconsultations, we have we spend
money because weddings are bigticket items.
But I think that there's reallymore of an opportunity than we
(53:47):
probably realize, with some ofhow these changes that we've
seen in our death culture, toreally embody and support this
idea that you know, you've liveda good life and we're turning
into a more death positiveculture.
So I think that's a really bigopportunity for us to really
capitalize on that.
But it was amazing, everyretail florist I talked to
they'd go oh yeah, no, my bookis from like the 90s or the
early 2000s and oh yeah, no, mybook is from like the 90s or the
(54:07):
early 2000s and oh yeah, no.
I've just been using the sameimages for a really long time
and but I'll get to it, Ipromise.
Right?
So I think for a retail florist, that's, you know, trying to
see how to capitalize on a bigtrend of not even just a trend a
big cultural shift and change,getting themselves organized and
realizing how to, you know,support this very changing space
(54:29):
, I think is a real winner and areal cash cow?
Speaker 1 (54:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think this fall we have afeature on sympathy as well.
We usually in the fall do afeature on sympathy and I'm just
amazed at the creativity andsome of these celebration of
life pieces.
They're just so beautiful andpersonal, so wonderful.
Speaker 4 (54:47):
Yes, and personalization is 100% on the
rise, right?
So, and you're right, everypiece is developed to celebrate
a very unique person and a veryunique life.
So we've got some reallycreative things that we've seen,
and people are really at thetop of their game when they
think about how that they canexpress somebody's life through
flowers.
Speaker 3 (55:05):
Yeah, and I think we have a lot to thank Smithers
Oasis for you and your teamdoing all this research, and I'm
hearing these words deathpositive and you know, death
culture and things like that.
These are terms that we should,as florists, be discussing.
Speaker 4 (55:16):
I agree.
Well, beth, when you have fourhours in your life and you want
to sit around and talk aboutsympathy, you just let me know I
could go.
Oh, the things I know now aboutthis industry.
Speaker 1 (55:29):
Sounds like we need to get together, laura, I love
it.
I love it.
Ladies, thank you so much forjoining us.
It's been a wonderfulconversation.
We've enjoyed having you on.
We really appreciate youspending some time with us today
.
Thanks for having us.
Speaker 4 (55:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (55:38):
Yes, definitely, thank you.
Since 1897 in Chicago, floristReview has served the floral
industry.
We're thrilled to have this newpodcast medium to help expand
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Visit our website,floristreviewcom to subscribe.
We greatly appreciate yoursupport and please join us for
(56:02):
the next episode of the FlowerHour with Florist Review.
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