The AESME SCHOOL OF FLOWERS specialises in naturalistic design with a focus on SEASONAL materials, celebrating the processes and rituals of growing and arranging plants
If you are taking the first steps on your journey with flowers, or you’ve reached a crossroads, we can provide a path to thinking about flowers differently.
Our courses are for enthusiastic beginners, those trained in an alternative style or perhaps exploring a transition from another background entirely. We welcome flower arrangers from all over the world - professional, amateur and aspiring - owners and employees of flower shops and studios, wedding designers and flower farmers. You certainly don’t have to be a florist - previous students have included lawyers and doctors, cooks and artists, gardeners, photographers, scientists and psychologists. Some have gone on to study garden design, to incorporate naturalistic design in hotels and restaurants or to photograph flowers. Many have been home arrangers for whom time with flowers is a personal practice.
By coming to our School you will equip yourself with the tools to approach your design work and creative practice with integrity, depth and direction.
Every flower arrangement is an expression of its maker, a personal exploration and to this end, a celebration of individuality. But flower arranging is also the expression of shared values and the conduit to a wider conversation, to asking questions. How do we design in harmony with nature? How can we recognise the skills of farmers and gardeners through our work? How can we connect to the seasons?
At the AESME SCHOOL OF FLOWERS every student has the opportunity to experience the beauty and variety of garden flowers through their organic forms, textures and colours, to learn about the plants our flowers come from and to reject hierarchy, making arrangements with everything from weeds and wildflowers to fruits and vegetables. Whenever you choose to join us, you will be surrounded by extraordinary natural materials - blossoming and decadent, wild and weedy, edible, medicinal and scented.
Our School is first and foremost about connecting plants and people. We only ever use seasonal, locally grown materials (whether in the UK or further afield).
Each person who attends a workshop will have their own relationship with flowers, different levels of skill and experience and a personal goal in mind. We sensitively adapt our teaching styles for each guest, starting with the basics of practical techniques (hand-tieds, kenzans, chicken wire) and encouraging individual experimentation with colour, proportion, shape and symmetry.
☞ READ A POTTED HISTORY OF THE school
"Inspiring, empowering and beautiful" MARTINA
“It was a very special moment in time for me and I will remember it forever. I would definitely recommend doing a workshop… You will feel like you have grown on more levels than just the flower arranging skills" Anouchka
"I've had 2 private (classes) and both were fantastic. Very absorbing and I left ebullient, as I was immersed in something I love and felt so satisfied by! Would definitely recommend to others" PRISCILLA
“It was an absolute joy from start to finish - the warm welcome from you all, your inspiring teaching, the generosity of the flowers and vessels… I came home brimming with ideas on how to use ingredients from my garden and surroundings in a fresh and different way… When I got home, I foraged FOR vetch which I had never considered before and used that with wild poppies and am now looking at a little bottle of wild strawberries on my kitchen table!” ANNABEL
"Holistic. Evocative. Enhancing" valerie