Wolverhampton Flowers - bringing chalk and cheese together.


talk to James Thomas, the elder of the two brother team that run the company, and he’s a mine of positivity and determination. “I’m


T


o say Wolverhampton Flowers have a gung ho attitude would be an understatement. In fact


there may be a lot of history, the brothers are keener to look to the future which is why they took the plunge and hosted a majorly impressive demonstration evening back in April. Because this wasn’t just any


old demonstration with a couple of tables shoved in the back of the warehouse but a careful organised, double demmer evening that saw the Wolverhampton Flowers team suited and booted, hundreds of designs made and thousands of fl owers used. “To be honest there simply wouldn’t be the


the loud one”, he says, “Sean, my younger brother, is the quiet one but together we are a strong team and reckon there’s a real future for independent wholesalers like us.” The boys split the duties so


Sean takes charge of plants and sundries whilst James concentrates on sourcing the fl owers. Their positivity is probably helped by the fact they are fourth generation wholesalers, by their own admission born and bred to sell fl owers and plants. But while


76 F&wb Summer 2013


space to do something at our unit but it wasn’t actually what we wanted” said Sean. “Booking out the Civic Centre in Womborne gave us the chance to not only put on a good showcase of all the product we sell, but let fl orists see


a completely diff erent range of designs. “In fact it is fair to say the


demonstrators were like chalk and cheese. The exuberant, at times downright blunt Nicky Markslaag said everything I would want to say but with the added punch of making stunning designs whilst she said it. The softer, more English Nigel Whyles produced a whole host of more traditional designs but each with a fascinating twist and together they showcased more ideas than I have seen at a dem in a long time. But given the audience were still sitting and watching even as the clock reached ten, it was clear that the choice of designer was a wise one.” But given it didn’t come cheap


why do it at a time when most people are still watching the pennies. “We’ve been talking about doing it for a while and


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