Neville, once known as Neville MacKay---he says he gave up the surname one year "for lent" and never went back---is the owner of My Mother's Bloomers, and spends part of his year travelling and observing business trends. "What's happened is we're going in a full circle," he says. "We're getting a retro-modern look." He describes it as taking the feel of floral design from the '40s, '50s and '60s, "upgraded using more modern materials." That's making for a lot of metallics, lots of bling and strong colour combinations, such as "a striking gold with a bit of black."
Neville has noted, while consulting with an analyst from California, that floral trends from Europe take three years to register in the US, while only 18 months here in Canada. And he says there's more consciousness around being green in his business than ever before. "Environmental issues are a huge deal in the floral industry," says Neville. "There's much more concern about where the flowers come from." In his travels he sees the eco-stickers often, but as he says, anyone can slap on a sticker. There is a pride in saying that your product was grown with organic or fair trade practices, and it's up to us to ask where the plant was grown and how.
"I'm a big believer in progress, not perfection," he says. "We spend so much time thinking about what's shitty in the world." In his own way, then, Neville is trying to bring a little colour, fragrance and light to balance out the shit.
Silver: Props Floral Design
Bronze: The Flower Shop
