Meet the Maker: Willow Crossley
This December at Thyme we welcome florist and floral stylist Willow Crossley for a special festive wreath-making workshop, as part of our partnership with Create Academy. Here she tells us about her inspiration, process and what to expect from her floral masterclass.
1. Where did your love of nature stem from?
I think from growing up in very rural Wales. I was always outside with my brothers, playing in the garden, the woods or the river; I absolutely loved it! I now feel funny if I’m away from it for more than a day or so.
2. Do you have a favourite place to go for creative inspiration?
Not really, although I do need headspace to feel creative. If I’ve got too much on, or I’m feeling too frazzled, wading through my to do list, I wont come up with particularly good ideas. I walk twice a day in the woods at home which always calms me and I can feel my brain switching into daydream mode which is when I dream up ideas. Weirdly I often have my best ideas in the car!
3. How would you describe your design style in a sentence?
Wild, whimsical and colourful.
4. Can you take us through your process of selecting and arranging flowers and foliage in your work?
I always start with what’s in season. British growing season (April to October) will dictate with what my growers have available. I have my favourites flowers that I will aways begin with, but colour is usually the first port of call. Clients usually give me a loose theme and a budget and then I run with it! I get bored very easily so am always trying to find new colour combinations and varieties to experiment with,
5. Tell us about your Floristry Masterclass with Create Academy
It basically has my whole flowery brain on there! All the basics for working with flowers, I talk about growers, sourcing, what works well with what, colour, table scaping, Christmas decorating, wreaths, there is so much on there! We’ve kept adding it to over the years too so it's amazing value!
6. What advice would you give to budding floral designers?
Start small, find a lovely local grower to you and play with what you like. Floristry is like art, it’s very personal. What I might like, you might not, there is no right or wrong and so I’d encourage you to play and experiment. Start with small vases and work your way up to bigger scales. And don’t worry if it goes wrong - you can start again!
7. What’s your proudest achievement to date?
I loved creating a train at Ralph Lauren during Chelsea in Bloom. I worked with my friend Angus Buchanan on it and we won Gold! I adore doing big installations like that, you get to be so creative, lots of excitement, drama and adrenalin and then it’s all over with a bang!
8. How do you like to spend a winter weekend in the Cotswolds
My weekends are spent on sidelines watching our three boys which I absolutely love!
