Karen French is a sought-after talent in Floral Design. She’s created beautiful, extravagant pieces, but one of her favorite projects to date was for a private event at the Swiss Club in Singapore.

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It was a surprising kind of love, as if the inspiration for floristry passed through Karen and into a pocket of her heart as she attended her first ever Christmas themed floral demonstration. She was hooked, and no one was more surprised than she! She pursued floral design as a kind of creative outlet afterwards, of which she had several, yet in the end beautiful blooms and fragrant flowers won her over.

The love built momentum over time as Karen decided to pursue professional training at a prominent floral design school. She then gracefully swept here and there around the globe attending courses, master classes, and floral experiences headed by award-winning, world-famous floral designers who were specialised experts. Since then, her love, passion, stewardship, and partnership with flowers has built a meaningful, reputable business for her creating beautiful spaces for the hospitality industry and in private homes.

Floral Design Consultation With The Swiss Club In Singapore

Word of mouth is a powerful source of business for women like Karen who strive for excellence. It was then proof of her hard work when an event manager recommended her for the event at the Swiss Club. The private affair would play host to private bank clients, high net-worth individuals and investors, so impressive design was an absolute must.

Before ever making any agreements on a potential floral project, Karen enjoys a consultation – giving her time to listen, to understand the client’s needs, to talk about time frames, the type of flowers they require, logistics and which flowers they particularly value. All of this helps Karen to better know whom she is working with, and to establish realistic expectations. Clients looking for a quick quote without a meeting are not clients Karen is interested in, so she loved that the Swiss Club was happy to meet with her and very open about their requirements, their venue, and timeline.

“You can be the most amazing and versatile designer in your niche but if you fail to establish a good relationship with your client then the project won’t have a good start. Mutual respect is key. We had a mutual respect. From the outset they valued my style and expertise, and I valued their professionalism.”

Floral Design Planning With The Swiss Club In Singapore

Established in 1871, the Swiss Club is one of the oldest and most historic clubs in Singapore. Taking into consideration the venue and its surrounding lush greenery, Karen decided on a Tropical theme utilizing exotic heliconias, cymbidium, zantedeschia, alstroemeria, and plenty of orchids with young coconut leaves and topical foliage.

Everyone involved agreed that the design and choice of flowers needed to be in harmony with the venue, wow their guests, and be robust enough not to wilt in the sweltering heat. Though exotic flowers might not strike locals or Singapore expats as anything special, they were very much an integral part of the experience for the Club’s visitors coming from abroad, and floral design stretched over two banqueting facilities and the adjoining staircase. Quite a feat for Karen and her team!

“Sometimes we start from a blank canvas. During the consultation phase we’ll have a walk through the event space. We look at the décor; the colours, the soft furnishings and art work. This time together is useful to both parties because we get a good visual of what we need to work around. Being on site we also have direct access to the staff we’ll be working with, can see how cooperative they’ll be and can ask department heads of any restrictions and what, if anything, is allowed to be moved.”

After the two parties agree on a theme, colour, time frame and flowers, Karen assembles her team to commence the working of magic!

Goals In Her Floral Design

“As a former image consultant, how it’s going to look is paramount. Thankfully I have a sixth sense and am blessed with a creative mind for visualizing the end result, so I find it easy to convey that vision to my clients through sketches, visuals and mood boards. Image is very important and my goal is to create a welcoming environment for their clients and guests. Understandably, I also want my flowers to look good in that particular setting.”

To Karen, flowers are more than simple blooms to enhance the atmosphere of a particular venue or room, they are emotion and art, that’s why in choosing each individual flower she never compromises on quality, and always makes sure her pick is fresh. Humbly, Karen admits that she relies on fine quality, fresh flowers and floral accessories from her trusted rapport of wholesalers, saying “they’re a big link in the success of any floral project from advising what’s realistically available and getting stock in on time.”

Most important for Karen is that the design makes the client happy as she incorporates proportion and visual balance; making flowers harmonise with their environment and color transitions pleasing to the eye. Every project Karen touches is a masterpiece no matter how simple or complex, and we’ve yet to witness a project that hasn’t moved its beholders to admiration!

Recent Floral Design Projects In Singapore

Karen has worked on many floral projects for corporate, private homes, and non-profit organisations. She is always inspired by bigger teams of designers coming together from around the world, like in 2010 when she was part of a world-record attempt to create the world’s largest bouquet! She’s also participated in floral exhibitions at five-star hotels, and iconic buildings such as the National Museum of Singapore.

Karen was also recently showcased in a floral fashion at the 2015 Dream Ball held at the Shangri-La! You can catch a glimpse of her design for the event in the video below at 0:34, 0:52, and 1:29!