Renaissance
Well, here it is. My new website …
… from Firenza Flowers to Fiona Pickles.
It wasn’t an easy decision to move away from the name ‘Firenza’.
I’ve been thinking about it for a good few years, initially I was reluctant as I’d come up with the name at the very beginning of my floral journey, after MUCH deliberation (blimey, it’s hard naming a new business).
Firenza is a kind of made up word, a strange form of Firenze, the Italian for ‘Florence’, after my maternal grandma Florence (known as Flo), so it was very personal to me. I’ve been using it for almost sixteen years now and to change it feels a bit like renaming a child.
Whilst I’m sad to leave that chapter behind me, it feels right to be working under my own name now, an exciting new era where I plan to dig further and further into my aesthetic.
Plus, there’s still a reference to it in the logo at the bottom ;)
The incredible illustrations and watercolours of fading flowers were commissioned from Gail of Starkey’s Lane , I absolutely adore them and have the originals hanging up at home. Again, there were more instructions like no straight lines, no bright colours, nothing too perfect etc etc!
A special thank you also to Fiona Humberstone for her Creative Direction and for uncovering my aesthetic and subsequently keeping us all focused so everything spoke of ‘me’.
Please feel free to have a good old squirrel around, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I hope you like the new site, I blummin’ LOVE it.
I can say that because I didn’t do it. The very wonderful Caz at Making Waves designed and built it.
I feel really lucky to have met Caz, she totally got me and my weird old tastes and preferences (no straight lines, nothing ranging, nothing predictable. At one point I’m sure I said ‘messy, but not too messy … poor Caz!) But she patiently ploughed on, allowing me to add and add and change and change. Bless her, I think she probably needs a month off now.
thank you caz xxx
Some offerings are ‘coming soon’, basically because I couldn’t wait any longer to get it out to the world.
some exciting, new ventures on the site:
I’ve been keen to develop collaborations with other makers for some time now, if you offer something that you feel would fit perfectly with my aesthetic, then I’d love to hear more.
A lovely space where most of my offerings can be purchased directly.
As well as being able to automatically book your place on any of my ‘real life’ Masterclasses in the Boutique, I’ve also launched The Online Edition of Masterclasses, giving you the chance to sign up for some very special one-to-one virtual mentoring. Created initially for the ‘Times of Covid’, I plan to retain a small selection of online options even after we can all meet up again.
At time of writing there’s also a glorious and limited edition gift box, but numbers are small and I’m not sure how long it will last.
Further down the line I plan to sell a selection of exclusive items that I thought you would love as much as I do.
I want to share some of the fifty million images I’ve been taken during these weird old times of lockdown, isolation and bubbles; along with my thoughts and inspirations, basically what makes me tick.
I love Instagram and, you probably already know, I’m on there a lot, but there are constraints.
In my notebook I’m sure I’ll have more freedom and I feel really excited to get started properly.
also new to the site:
notebook
I haven’t journaled for quite some time and I can’t wait to get writing again.
My notebook will consist of random musings, thoughts and observations, very much along the lines of my Instagram feed. There will no doubt be occasional dogs and many, many flowers. I’ll be sharing lots about what’s growing in my garden too.
I may just share gorgeous textures or shapes that inspire me. Or maybe some beautiful light. Who knows what I’ll witter on about…
Please do investigate the website, I’d love to hear your thoughts
Other than my images of the garden, the images through this post are by Holly from Belle and Beau Fine Art Photography as are many of the images in the site itself.