Photographer Ryan Rivers – Fashion Editor Annabel Lucey – Talent Hamish Powell – Make-up by Chiharu Wakabayashi – Interview by Marco Martello // Total Look Maison Margiela MM6 – Necklace Serge DeNimes – Rings Bleue Burnham and Serge DeNimes
Total Look Dior Men – Necklace Bleue Burnham / Jacket, Jumper and Trousers Fendi – Shoes Paul Smith – Socks Falke – Earring Shaun Leane – Ring Bleue Burnham
First of all, how’d you define your approach to flower design?
Throughout my entire journey with flowers, I’ve never been able to define what I do or what I am. At first, I was thrilled to call myself a florist; what a niche and fun title to have! It felt like something I worked hard to earn, and I refrained from calling myself a florist until I properly felt like one.
Then at some point of the development in my taste and style, I started to wonder if ‘florist’ was keeping me in a box. When I’d tell people that I’m a florist, I know that they’d assume a certain list of activities inaccurate to my practice, so I just started calling myself an artist. Floristry not as a service, but as a form of expression.
I was scared to call myself an artist. It was huge, ambiguous, and exclusive. I didn’t study art at school, I was a scientist. I don’t really know about colour theory, or depth, or balance. I just know what I like.
I swing in circles about my floral identity, sometimes I like the humility of the term ‘florist’, other times I’m flung to the extreme of a ‘floral choreographer’. It depends how pretentious I want to sound.
Taking a step back, you graduated in Plant Biotechnology, with a thesis on orchids, from the University of Manchester. What’s your fascination with those flowers about?
Orchids are the second largest family of plants in the world, there’s so much to them, and yet society’s perception is limited to a handful of varieties spotted at the supermarket. I liked them for this underestimation.
I first fell in love with the orchids on an expedition in Mallorca, I was studying the distribution of an adorable species that has the remarkable adaptation to mimic the appearance of bumblebees, ‘Ophrys bombyliflora’. How could a flower be so advanced as to copy an animal? It struck me from my prescribed notion that ‘flowers are pretty’ and instead welcomed a more realistic assumption that ‘flowers are weird’.
They’re sexy, and ugly, and fragrant, and stink, and pure, and deceitful. So much personality for one group of flowers – the deeper you fall into this world of orchids, the more you learn about the crazy evolution, the crazier cultures, and the craziest researchers.
That being said, when you ventured into flower design, did you have a mentor, someone who helped you navigate this world?
I think I owe my floral destiny to three key female figures in my life.
The first is my mother, she imprinted the love of plants upon me from a very early age, and if she didn’t have me helping her in the garden every weekend, I may not have adopted such a second nature alignment to plants.
The second is my first boss, Sam. Despite my total lack of skill, Sam employed me at her flower shop, relying only on my extreme passion as a sign I was worth her time.
Sam was a single mum raising three young kids of her own, not counting the new flower obsessed boy that was sweeping the floor on a Saturday. Nevertheless she had the patience to teach me floristry, and I grew from sweeping the floor to designing hotel flowers, wedding consultation and store management, all before I even graduated.
The third important matriarch of my floral taste was my first ikebana tutor, Junko.
She showed me the tenderness of flower arranging from a Japanese perspective and instilled in me how to properly respect the incredible materials.
Total Look Dior Men – Earrings Shaun Leane – Rings Bleue Burnham // Jacket Brixtol Textiles – Cardigan Open YY – NecklaceSerge DeNimes –
You recently bought a falafel shop and are now renovating the place. What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
The biggest challenge has been finding time.
I feel so grateful that I’m able to say this, but we have simply been too busy. When I founded my design studio, for the first two years it was just me, scraping by with a few projects a month. Now I’ve created a whole team whom I love, and almost every day we have a new project.
Naively, I thought I could take on a lot of the renovation myself, as it’s a process I think would be very sacred. However it looks like I might have to get the experts in, at least to do the boring bits (Laughs, E.D.)!
Hamish, what’s the weirdest or funniest request you’ve ever had from a client?
I can think of it immediately.
A few years ago, I was in LA for a Hollywood afterparty. The client wanted a huge floral display, like a coral reef, constructed at the bottom of a swimming pool. It was a logistical adventure which climaxed with myself and the team arranging flowers in swim briefs, goggles and a snorkel.
It was that great balance of work that feels like play. But man, I wish I was able to hold my breath for longer.
Last year you collaborated with British perfume brand Penhaligon’s. Do you have a signature scent? And what’s your relationship with perfume like?
In Japan there are three traditional refined arts of flower arranging, tea ceremony, and fragrance; Kado, Chado, and Kodo. Unintentionally, I seem to be developing those refinements within my own interests. Okay, I admit I’m still working on the tea ceremony, but flowers and fragrance are certainly integral to my identity.
I think of all my senses, smell is the most evocative and emotional. I’d sooner go through a life without sound than that without scent.
I don’t have a signature scent. I spent a long time trying to find one, as I loved the idea of being recognised by a smell alone, however I found that it doesn’t match my ADHD mode of self-expression. As such, now I pick and choose my fragrance to match an outfit, to reflect or to create a mood. Sometimes, my scent is the outfit.
This series of interviews for The Greatest’s website revolves around the concept of a ‘handshake’. What’s the handshake you’ll never forget?
It took me a long time to think about all the handshakes in my life, I’m more of a cheek-kisser. Before I started my own company, I had the pleasure of working on the flowers for the Vanity Fair Oscars Afterparty. If you’re well-behaved, you’re allowed to join the party to have some drinks and mingle with the glitterati. It’s a little awkward; because they’re all superstars and I’m just the loser who did the flowers – but halfway through the night I bumped into someone who couldn’t have been kinder…Martha Stewart.
She’s definitely the kind of person I’d spritz with cheek kisses, but knowing my place in the pecking order, I went for the shake (if I was one margarita deeper, I probably would have curtseyed).
I told Martha how I was scared to quit the florist I was working at and to start my own studio. Her response was a concentrated elixir of encouragement like I’d never heard before. ‘Go get ’em,’ she said; ‘trust talent and don’t forget to bat the eyelashes.’
Hey, if I’m going to listen to anyone it’s going to be Martha.
One month later, I resigned and founded my own studio.
Total Look Louis Vuitton – Jewellery Hamish’s own
2025 is just around the corner. Are there any future projects and collaborations you’re looking forward to?
It’s remarkable how quickly 2025 has come around, it really feels like I’m in the grips of an unstoppable upwards spiral, everything feels cyclical yet…renewed.
It’s very rare that I get a project in the calendar sooner than a month in advance, however I’m very much looking forward to the launch of my new workshop curriculum.
Sharing love for flowers is my greatest passion; I think I enunciate that quite well across Instagram, however when it’s real…when it’s tangible and fragrant and sticky, that’s when you can really evangelise the flowers.
This coming January I’m inaugurating this new chapter in my studio’s story by being a guest speaker and demonstrator at ‘Madrid Blooms’, an annual congress of floral education held in Madrid.
Talking about those who’ve shaped your path again, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
I was a depressed teenager with a special bond with my French teacher. She cared for me and could see I was struggling. After every lesson we’d chat, and after every lesson she’d produce some lofty life advice. However, there’s one thing she told me that particularly stuck with me.
‘Never live the same day twice’.
She compared it to the zoochosis of animals held in captivity that lose their zest for life due to the repetitive banality. This life is so immense, there are so many things to see and so many ways to see them, the worst thing you can do is to lose your curiosity, to stop exploring, to stagnate. I’ve lived my life differently ever since she spoke those words.
To end on a light-hearted note, what’ll you do when you’re done answering these questions?
This morning I planted the daffodil bulbs in my garden, there’s one hole still empty and uncovered. When I finish answering these questions, I’ll go outside and plant myself in this small hole. Hopefully it’ll make it through the winter and will return as something delicate and beautiful. See you soon?