From Botanical Illustration to Floristry: Leigh Chappell on Building a Creative Career

As illustration in graphic design became increasingly digitally driven, I found I enjoyed it less and less. I had always loved drawing and painting. Then, one day, a friend asked if I’d like to join her at a floral workshop. It was like painting, but using colour and shape three-dimensionally. I was hooked!

What does your role involve today? What are you ultimately responsible for, and what might surprise people about the job?

Today, I run workshops because I love sharing my love of flowers. I also design flowers for a small number of weddings and, with our recently formed team, Flowers at the House, curate the British flower festival at Strawberry Hill House.

The festival was started with the aim of highlighting the beauty of the flowers themselves and the creativity of the designers (both established and emerging) in response to the architectural nuances of the house.

Being a floral designer can mean working alone quite a bit, so I find working with other flower lovers incredibly uplifting. There is something very special about bringing people together around a shared love of flowers.

Design is incredibly important to me, but so is connection. I love meeting and sharing ideas with people who are linked in some way, whether they are flower lovers, growers, gardeners, floral designers, artists or makers. I could go on!

Building relationships and being open to other people’s knowledge and ways of seeing have been just as important to my career as developing my own design skills.

Being true to your own process is incredibly important. The people you meet along the way enrich and inform your life, whether they are the emerging exhibitors or my very wise, experienced ikebana teacher.

We never stop learning, and I think curiosity and experimentation are two of the most valuable things you can bring to a creative career.

Taking on too large a number weddings at the beginning of my floral career, partly in a bid to prove myself and partly because I needed to make a living!

I was exhausted and it taught me that doing more isn’t necessarily the answer. You have to look after yourself and understand what kind of working life you actually want to create.

Talk us through a typical Monday.

Mondays are usually for planning at home on my laptop. Depending on the season, this will mostly involve sourcing flowers and planning logistics.

I hate getting up super early and only do it if I have a set-up day. I’d much rather work late!

Usually, I’m chatting to other designers or growers, sorting out what needs to happen next, and trying to squeeze in a gym session.

How does the organisation you lead operate? How is it funded or how does it generate income, whom does it serve, and what happens behind the scenes to keep it running?

The Strawberry Hill Flower Festival is run in partnership with the house charity, and this year it was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Exhibitors receive a fee for their installations, with talks and workshops also paid.

The aim is to show visitors how extraordinary British flowers can be and how beautiful and creative floral design can be when it is approached as an art form.

Alongside the festival, I also love running my own private workshops, where I can share the love of working with flowers in a more intimate setting.

I’m not sure that the full potential of flowers and plants has been broadly realised yet. I love seeing the appreciation at the flower festival when members of the public suddenly see floral installations as art.

We are increasingly understanding the benefits of beauty, nature and creativity to our wellbeing. Ikebana has recognised the meditative qualities of working with flowers for generations, and we also know that spending time working with nature can help relieve stress.

So, alongside teaching floral design, I love the idea of flowers as a form of therapy and wellbeing.

Where do you see the most promising opportunities for the next generation seeking careers involving flowers, plants and gardens?

I think floral design as an art form will become increasingly recognised. We are beginning to appreciate much more of what the natural world has to offer, including the benefits that can come from simply getting your hands in the soil.

There are also huge challenges around climate change, so I think floristry, growing and sustainable ways of working with plants will be incredibly exciting areas for the next generation.

Talk to as many people as possible who are already doing the things that appeal to you. Offer to freelance for them and soak in everything they say and do.

You may not agree with all of it, and that’s fine. It is one of the best ways to learn. Take what you find interesting, experiment and then find your own way of doing things.

It isn’t necessarily a linear journey, but if you do something you genuinely love, you will do it well.

What did botanical illustration and graphic design teach you about observing flowers that later proved useful in floral design?

Observe: line, form, texture and colour. Then observe again once they are combined.

Botanical illustration taught me to really look at a plant rather than simply see it. Graphic design taught me about composition, balance and the relationship between elements and that other important element - negative space. Both apply in floral design.

You now combine client work, workshops and the Strawberry Hill Flower Festival. How do these different roles influence your creative practice?

The design process is essentially the same, but the pace changes. The teaching, process is slower and more considered as a person discovers their own way of seeing.

The different parts of my work feed into one another, which keeps things interesting.

You teach approaches influenced by ikebana alongside your own floral practice. What have you learned about the difference between becoming a good designer and becoming a good design teacher?

Teaching has made me realise how important it is to be able to explain design principles clearly and logically, often through visual examples.

But perhaps more importantly, a good teacher needs to encourage experimental thinking rather than simply demonstrate a ‘right’ way of doing something.