Neill Strain opened his Belgravia Boutique in 2008 amidst the financial crisis. His boutique stands proudly on the exclusive West Halkin street in Belgravia amidst creamy coloured Georgian architecture. People come from all across London for his beautiful floral displays and vibrant flowers. Somewhat of a visionary, Neill’s ambition was to create a floral boutique which would be unrivalled in the quality and magnificence of the bouquets it created. He achieved exactly that with an impressive list of clients, his floral arrangements exude quality, luxury and exuberance.
One of my favourite weekend traditions is to go by Neill’s boutique in Belgravia or his concession at Harrods to buy flowers for the week ahead. His signature style is the addition of orchids to his bouquets and the exotic mix of flowers which he uses for his artistry, flowers which I have never seen before such as lisianthus or oxypetalum. I have been lucky enough to have Neill design bouquets especially for my photo shoots and I am always astounded by his creativity and the vibrancy of his flowers.
Neill was kind enough to give me a tour of his boutique and answer some questions.
Where you at all nervous starting your business in 2008 during the financial crisis?
No, I was not nervous, just full of dreams, enthusiasm and motivation. I had been awarded an apprenticeship to work with internationally renowned Belgian floral designer Monique Vanden Berghe and following all my studies and training in Holland and the experience of working with Monique, I realised that I wanted to introduce an international style of floral design to the U.K. which I had fallen in love with abroad. It was a new style, very different from what florists were creating in London and beyond at the time, and I knew that I needed to approach an elite and international clientele if my concept was to meet with success. I had no business or management experience, just a passion for flowers and a vision of a luxury, contemporary, european-influenced boutique offering inspirational floral designs with the most extraordinary flowers. Sometimes one should follow one’s dreams, however wild and crazy they might be!
“Sometimes one should follow one’s dreams, however wild and crazy they might be!”
How did you come up with such a unique concept?
The concept behind Neill Strain Floral Couture is unique due to our way of sourcing exceptional flowers, our approach to high end design and level of customer service. However, this concept has taken years to develop and has evolved gradually. Starting with an innovative style that I acquired in Holland and Belgium, then creating close contacts with the Dutch growers so that they reserve their best blooms only for us, to be able to order directly and receive these flowers within 24 hours of picking, forging ties with our clients, listening to and understanding their desires and tastes, and in some cases relaying these back to the growers and building a strong team of florists who share my passion and vision for flowers and design. These are the foundations of our business today and building it has taken almost 12 years of learning, growing and refining along with patience, dedication, motivation and of course hard work.
Could you please give me a little background behind where you source your flowers from?
We have a unique way of sourcing our flowers. We work directly with our partners in Holland, a small group of elite growers who are dedicated only to creating the very highest quality blooms. We order our flowers directly with them, they carefully make a very special selection of their best flowers (tallest, biggest, most vibrant or fragrant, whatever it might be) and send them directly to us in London the same day so that they can be on display at our Belgravia boutique or our Harrods concession within 24 hours of picking. This is something extraordinary in the flower industry!
“We have a unique way of sourcing our flowers. We work directly with our partners in Holland, a small group of elite growers who are dedicated only to creating the very highest quality blooms.”
Obviously our clients reap the benefits, not only of the flowers lasting longer but the noticeable difference in the beauty and vitality of our blooms. Throughout the year I personally visit these growers to discuss new breeds, new trends, new opportunities and we mutually inspire each other by discussing in detail what our clients desire and our own needs and requirements. The growers, given their extreme devotion to their flowers, very much appreciate knowing and seeing where and how their beloved blooms are displayed. The unique link between us allows us to have the freshest and most beautiful blooms in the UK if not in the world.
Are you able to share details of some of the most extravagant arrangements you’ve been asked to do?
While many of the weddings and private home installations we create for our special clients, Middle-Eastern and Russian in particular, are sublimely extravagant, it is the personal gifts sent to and from celebrities that have perhaps had the biggest wow factor, presumably because the client is wishing to express thanks and appreciation of unsurpassed levels and flowers are a perfect medium for translating such emotions. For instance, Donatella Versace and Lady Gaga have exchanged ornate floral gifts on many occasions. Once, for Donatella’s birthday, Lady Gaga asked me to fashion the designer’s initials out of flowers, so we constructed the letters “D.V”, more than eight feet tall and covered them with Gardenia’s and white Roses, Donatella’s favourite flowers and I had to personally escort the gigantic structure to Milan for delivery to her showroom. Another time, Donatella asked us to recreate the artwork of Lady Gaga’s single, Aphrodite, in celebration of it’s launch in London, so we forged an almost life-size Venus emerging from an enormous seashell, made of Orchids and exquisite blooms. It was a floral sculpture!
“Donatella Versace and Lady Gaga have exchanged ornate floral gifts on many occasions. . . Kanye West is another celebrity who has ordered extravagant floral displays from us.”
On another occasion, Lady Gaga commissioned me to design an impressive array of floral letters to be delivered to Alaia Azzedine at his Paris studio to mark her appreciation of the designer’s series of gowns he created for her appearance at the Oscars ceremony in L.A. in 2015. The designs were made entirely of scarlet colour Roses to resemble the famous gloves which became so synonymous with her world-class performance at the event.
Kanye West is another celebrity who has ordered extravagant floral displays from us to be delivered in Paris, for the Paris fashion week.
A recent install at Annabel’s also deserves mentioning for it’s extravagance. The club owners commissioned us to decorate the world-famous club in Berkeley Square earlier this year inspired by Peacocks. Looking to the beautiful wallpaper in the Rose Room for inspiration, we created a series of floral Peacock designs to adorn the venue’s exquisitely elegant decor, including two life-size peacocks in the entrance hall, created with a stunning mix of fresh, dried and faux flowers, a further Peacock in the Rose bar, gilded bird-cagesand Vanda Orchid plants hanging from the trees in the garden, a jungle setting to climb the impressive central staircase, when you have an inspirational theme, we take it to the limits!
You came up with the first floral heart installation, how do you keep on innovating in such competitive times?
Being innovative is only a consequence of my creativity. As a floral designer, I feel constantly inspired by nature, architecture, sometimes fashion, flicking through books and magazines and particularly travelling abroad. I love creating new floral designs, whether it be for clients or for the Belgravia boutique and I feel very privileged to have so many opportunities to express my visions. I am always looking for new ideas, an outlet for my passion, for the theatrical and with the techniques and equipment available today nothing is impossible. My clients want bespoke and unique, their venues cry out for exotic, opulent and luxurious and my imagination does the rest…
You can find out more about Neill Strain by visiting his Belgravia boutique, the Harrods concession or at https://www.neillstrain.com/
Photography courtesy of Neill Strain Floral Couture
