Meet Alice... a passionate founder, cyclist and antique hunter

Meet Alice, the founder of Botanique and lifelong maker of anything and everything. When she's not scouring flea markets from the front seat of her van, you might find her up a ladder helping the team with a floral install. There's also something about Alice that might come as a little surprise!

Q: What’s your favourite way to spend a day off in London?

I have small children so weekends off are generally spent at birthday parties or in local playgrounds.  I work at Columbia Road alternate weekends which I really enjoy. An ideal day off starts in London Fields lido which I am so lucky to have at the end of my road. I would then cycle down to Broadway market for a coffee; oat flat white, please.  In the summer especially I love a bike ride along the canal stopping for a picnic in Victoria Park and finishing with a drink, always cider, at Barge East. I am also a regular at flea markets such as Kempton Park scouring for antiques for my home and the shops. Even better and even more dangerous now that I have a van to take with me! 

Q: If you could only have one flower or plant in your home forever, what would it be - and why?

Ahhhh impossible to choose. An all time favourite is Cosmos Apricota as a cut stem and to grow in the garden. Though I spend all summer at war with slugs at home and they especially like Cosmos, they’ve good taste. 

Q: What’s a small joy or ritual that brightens your everyday?

Always cycling. It’s the only way I travel in London. It always resets me and I always have my best ideas and thoughts whilst cycling, frequently stopping to write notes on my phone before I forget what I dreamt up.

Q: What’s something people might be surprised to learn about you? 

I’m not a florist! I have had a lifelong passion for craft and making anything and everything, but my background is studying Business Management at university. Thankfully I opened a shop over taking a serious graduate job and never looked back. In the early years of shopkeeping I got a fancy for flowers and plants so started to incorporate them into the shop. Despite flowers somewhat taking over the business I still keep the floristry at arms length. Partly because I am nowhere as good with flowers as the talented florists that I work with and partly because I can’t do everything! Thankfully I have been very lucky to work with lots of incredible florists in my time. You will still catch me assisting on an install though, I love helping Emily and team with the mechanics and am the first to hop up the ladder! 

Q: Do you have a favourite maker or product in the Botanique shop right now? 

I’m really proud of our beautiful collection of seed packets and am in the process of broadening the collection …now's a great time to start sourcing your seeds ready for sowing in spring, hint hint. 

Q: What’s one thing you’ve learned from working at Botanique that you’ll carry with you?

I’ll never tire of a diverse business and it's always fun! When one thing is quiet, another is up so it makes the business a lot more resilient too. I chose floristry for the love of flowers, I simply/ naively just fancied filling my shop with them… turns out it's perfectly suited to me because there are so many different parts to the industry to grow into. I have really learnt the hard way how important good organisation is, especially when building a complex business model. Having children forced me to be so much better at delegating, I have gradually learnt to spot the things I’m not so good at and / or don’t much like doing and hire for that position. It’s helped me to scale and has made the business so much more orderly for the team too. Hat’s of to our kick ass Head Florist Emily here, she has taught me to sort out the dis-order on a whole other level and it's paying off big time!

Q:You’re in charge of the playlist in the shop - what’s your go-to song or artist?

I love listening to music but playlists are something I am very happy to delegate(!) I end up finding out the name of an artist I like the song of and then let spotify take me places… Playing Olivia Dean in the shop just like everyone else at Botanique, it seems, has led me to Maggie Rogers and A Japanese House … which I’ll often put on at the moment.

Alice x