Back before a pandemic was dominating the news cycle we were able to chat with the talented floral designer Rachel Kwan of Euclid Design Co. Today we are sharing some highlights from that afternoon. Read on to hear more about Rachel’s approach with her clients, how she handled planning her own wedding and her favourite colour palettes and flowers!

You had mentioned your wedding as the first place that you started with floral design, tell us what that looked like? How stressful was that to take it on yourself?

I’m the kind of person who creates spreadsheets for many things, so I created a scary wedding spreadsheet. It was literally titled “Scary Wedding Spreadsheet”, and it had all the tasks in columns: visit venues, pick a venue, etc. Everything was in chronological order, and was assigned by who was going to take care of it, whether or not it was done and any notes. We got engaged in November 2016 and we were married by April 2017. It was 5 months and we started from the top of the list and anything we didn’t want to do, we cut. Don’t want to do favours? Cut. We don’t want to do lots of speeches? Cut.

We did simple greenery laid on the tables. All of our centre-pieces were make-ahead mason jar fairy lights and some other bits like pretty wood shavings and dried flowers. We could make all of those weeks or months ahead. The only flowers that I did was the actual arch itself that I had built out of copper pipe, and I stressed about this the most. I sourced foam, I put a piece of pipe through the foam and done the flowers on the foam. I transported it in the morning, did the setup with friends and family and then walked home from the venue around 2PM. We had a short ceremony at 5PM where my dad spoke at length and made funny jokes. I forgot my bouquet, and realized it about halfway down the aisle as I was fiddling with the lace on the front of my dress. I said to my dad, “Dad, I forgot my bouquet!” He said, “Do you want to go back and get it?” and I thought no, let’s keep going.

I’ve had weddings pause for things like that. Good on you for just going with it.

Well, there’s stuff that happens that you just roll with! I was busy pinning people’s boutonnieres on because I forgot that my husband doesn’t know how to do that and we didn’t have a photographer who knew how to do that. So I was pinning my dad’s boutonniere on him and then our friend hit the play button about 30 seconds too early and everything just started going. But it worked out just fine, it was a great evening!

So that’s how I got started. From there, I posted online and traded away all of my centre-pieces. Somebody got in touch with me about the arch and wanted to pay for it. That turned into a store on Etsy and my first client was somebody who lived in the Virgin Islands. She wanted something that she could put into the beach, so we did a bit of custom work back and forth and once it was made I sent it off through international shipping. Afterwards I thought, “Ok, now I’m going to really get to know the guys down at the FedEx Shipping Centre!”

So when did flowers become part of the equation? Were they always or did you focus more on the copper structures beforehand?

The copper structures were mostly to start, for sure. The flowers were always there, but they were for fun. Then, I think it was about May 2018, a friend said that her brother was getting married and loved what I did for my wedding. She wanted to know if I would work with them. I said, “OK, let me sit down with them, see what they actually need first.” I made a proposal, and they liked it, so all of a sudden I had 3 months to figure it all out. Their wedding was a big learning experience. After that, I didn’t have another wedding booked until October of that year. It was another referral. I thought it was interesting that people asked for structures and then the flowers would get added on because they didn’t want to go with someone else.

Do you think moving to the country has changed the way that you’re designing? Or did you start designing around the same time that you moved up to the area?

I feel like they both evolved on a similar timeline. We were looking for a more rural space at the same time that I was looking to see what this business could be. I’m always looking at my natural surroundings and feeling like nothing exists on a flat plane, not everything is going to be 100% perfect, sometimes things are lopsided and there is a lot of natural asymmetry: I feel freer to see those things, now that I live out here. I feel freer to be creative in the country.

Why do you think that is?

I think there’s just less distraction. I don’t have to pay as much attention to keeping myself alive while I walk down the street. There’s definitely a certain amount of mental energy that is spent paying attention to my surroundings for survival in the city that is freed up here. If it’s crappy out, I don’t have to go outside, I can look out the window and appreciate how I don’t have to be out there.

We had asked you earlier what words you would use to describe your work and you said clean, modern and hints of wildness. Tell us a little more about that.

Maybe it’s the way my head organizes how I think. I often feel like I’m starting off with something that’s very squared off or has clean lines, and adding colour and flow to it. The reason why I picked those words, and in that order, is because of the approach to the work. When it comes to building an arrangement, you start with a base and then you add the pieces that tell the story.

I want to talk a little bit about how you work with your clients since you mentioned that it’s something you feel sets you apart. What is your approach?

I’ve worked with a lot of client services people in the past. What I learned about their approach is to know when to set boundaries and provide guidelines for clients so they feel confident to make decisions. We can inspire and talk about options and possibilities. That’s super fun, but eventually people actually need to make decisions. Being able to see how my client service colleagues managed expectations, communicated what they needed from clients and how they communicated options to clients were all really great things I could bring into running my own business.

Before I get on the phone with my clients, I let them know the things I want to cover and what they will get out of that conversation. They know it’s important. They understand what we’re going to talk about. If there is anything they know already then they can bring that to the conversation. It’s still fun because you’re able to get to know people, and the people part, I’m all over that. I mean, I love the flowers, I talk to them too, but I still prefer talking to people.

Tell us a bit about your bullet journal, how does that work for you?

I needed a glance at my week, I needed a sense of what I needed to do on a day and I needed to know where I needed to be at any given time. Those three things are all I want to use the journal for.

I like the physical act of writing things down because for me it’s so tempting to get up in the morning and look at my phone. And then the last thing I do at night before I go to bed is look at my phone. I’m putting things into my mind but not giving myself the chance to reflect on how I feel or at least put things to rest. If I put it in my journal then I don’t have to think about it until I actually need to do it which helps. Then I can also see when I’ve been putting a task in and copying it from day to day and if it hasn’t been done yet then it clearly cannot be that important, so it’s got to go. Or it needs to happen now because I’ve been blocking myself out of anxiety or fear. Those are reasons why I like doing this. In addition to it being a comprehensive to do list, I start from the back to use it as a notebook so it’s a nice way to have it all in one place.

We touched on the copper structures a little bit earlier but I wanted to go back to that and hear more about them because you build all of them by hand!

I have always enjoyed building stuff and so it was a way to dive into process and work with a different set of materials. I could build something that could be physically out there and could be a canvas for myself or someone else. In terms of the artistry, it’s really interesting to only use standard materials. With copper pipe that means I’m constrained to the standard pieces that are available, like 90-degree elbows and tees. It’s interesting to try and find creative shapes and uses within those pieces. It’s something that I really enjoy.

Is there something creative that you really would love someone to let you do for their wedding?

I want someone to let me use only what we consider trash flowers in the industry. I don’t mean flowers that are garbage quality, I mean the flowers that people think aren’t as “good,” like carnations, chrysanthemums, gerbera daisies. I would love for someone to say, can you do something with 500 carnations?

In terms of colour palette for this year, if you had your way, what would your colour palette look like?

I would have a lot of plum, purple, yellow and peach. That would be my dream, contrasting colours.

This is a tough question for a florist but do you have a favourite flower?

It varies by season. I’m a huge fan of muscari in the spring. Summer, I am definitely a zinnia fan: they come in all colours and the different levels of the structure of the flower, they’re so butterfly friendly as well. I really also like amaranth in the fall, the texture of it is really cool.

Thanks to Rachel for taking the time to chat with us! Follow her on instagram, @eucliddesign.co, or check out her website, www.eucliddesign.co. If you’d like to get in touch with Rachel to inquire about her services, you can contact her here.

Vendor Spotlight: Euclid Design Co.

Follow us on instagram