There is something rather wonderful about walking into a beautiful hotel and being greeted by an extraordinary display of flowers. Before you’ve checked in, ordered a drink or even taken in the interiors, the flowers have already made an impression.
Whether it’s an enormous sculptural arrangement in the entrance hall or something wonderfully theatrical sitting beneath a chandelier, great hotel floristry has a way of making you stop and look.
For British floral designer Ricky Paul, creating that sense of theatre is all part of the job. With a background in interiors, drama and set design, Ricky has spent more than 15 years transforming spaces through flowers, from the floral displays at London’s Home House and The Langham hotels to extraordinary installations for Sketch London.
His creations have included a giant floral hot-air balloon, enormous floral animals and a four-metre-high punk head complete with a colourful mohawk for Chelsea in Bloom.
But behind even the most extravagant creations is an understanding of proportion, colour, texture and how flowers interact with their surroundings. And while you might not have room for a ten-metre floral balloon in your hallway, the same principles can be used to bring a little five-star floral magic into your own home.
Here, Ricky shares the thinking and techniques behind professional floral design, and how to create a statement arrangement worthy of a luxury hotel.
Start With Your Surroundings
The biggest mistake people make when arranging flowers is choosing the flowers before thinking about where they’re going to live. You can buy the most beautiful blooms in the world, but if the arrangement doesn’t work with the room, it’s never going to look quite right.
When we’re designing for a hotel, we look at everything. The architecture, the furniture, the colours, the ceiling height and even how people move through the space. A grand entrance hall gives us an entirely different canvas from an intimate restaurant or a beautifully designed guest bedroom.
I would encourage you to approach your home in exactly the same way. Look at the space before you rush off to buy flowers. If you have a beautiful console table in the hallway, perhaps that’s the perfect place for something tall and sculptural.
A kitchen island might suit a generous arrangement that can be admired from every angle, while a dining table needs something that won’t prevent you from seeing the person sitting opposite.
Flowers should enhance your interiors, not fight with them for attention. Think of them as another element of the room’s design, just as you would a piece of furniture, artwork or beautiful lighting.
A Little Drama Goes a Long Way
Having spent much of my career creating enormous installations, I’m certainly not afraid of a little drama. But creating impact isn’t necessarily about using hundreds of flowers or having an enormous budget. Often, it’s about understanding shape and proportion.
Some of the most striking hotel arrangements use surprisingly few flower varieties. What makes them impressive is how everything works together. Tall branches create height, foliage adds structure, and carefully positioned flowers draw your eye through the arrangement.
For a statement piece at home, don’t feel that every stem needs to be cut to exactly the same height. In nature, flowers grow at different levels, and allowing that movement into your design creates something far more interesting.
I love flowers that have real presence. Delphiniums and hydrangeas are particular favourites of mine because they offer wonderful scale and volume. A few hydrangea heads can make an arrangement feel incredibly generous, while delphiniums introduce height and a beautiful architectural quality.
The secret is to build the shape first and then consider where your statement flowers will have the greatest impact. You want people to appreciate the individual blooms as well as the overall arrangement, so don’t be frightened of leaving a little space between your flowers.
Your Vase Is Part of the Design
One thing that professional florists understand is just how much difference the right vessel makes. In hotels, we often choose the container as part of the original design concept because its shape, colour and material are integral to the finished arrangement.
For your home, I would invest in a few good-quality vases that work with your interiors rather than buying something new every time you purchase flowers.
A beautiful ceramic urn can make even a simple arrangement feel quite grand, while a contemporary glass vase might be perfect for showing off a collection of long-stemmed flowers. If you’re working with something tall and sculptural, make sure the vase has enough weight and stability to support it.
Think about the opening, too. A narrow-necked vessel is much easier to work with if you’re new to arranging flowers because it naturally holds the stems together. A wider container gives you more freedom to create a sprawling design, but you’ll need to think about how to support the flowers.
You can use reusable floral supports or a flower frog inside the vase to help position your stems. These are little tricks that make a considerable difference, particularly when you’re trying to create something that looks effortless.
Colour Is Where You Can Have Some Fun
I’m a huge lover of colour, and I think people can sometimes be a little too cautious when choosing flowers for their homes. There’s nothing wrong with a classic arrangement of white and green, but flowers give you a wonderful opportunity to introduce colours you might not otherwise use in your interiors.
The important thing is to work with a considered palette rather than buying a little bit of everything.
One of my favourite approaches is to work with different tones of the same colour. Deep burgundy, plum and wine-coloured flowers can create a wonderfully rich arrangement, while several shades of pink, from the palest blush to vibrant coral, can feel fresh and contemporary.
You can also take inspiration from the seasons. Spring might introduce tulips, ranunculus and blossom branches, while autumn brings richly coloured dahlias, berries and more sculptural foliage. Winter is a wonderful time to embrace deep reds, forest green and dramatic branches.
Look at what’s already happening in your room and decide whether you want the flowers to complement the colours or introduce a beautiful contrast. Sometimes one unexpected colour is all you need to make an arrangement feel special.
Choose Your Flowers Like a Florist
A common misconception is that creating an expensive-looking arrangement means buying lots of expensive flowers. In reality, knowing which flowers to choose and where to use them can make a much bigger difference.
I would always encourage people to visit their local florist and ask what’s looking particularly beautiful that week. Flowers are seasonal, and the varieties available, their quality and their price can change considerably throughout the year.
Rather than asking for a little of everything, choose a few varieties that work well together. Start with something that gives you structure, perhaps some beautiful branches or interesting foliage, then introduce your larger statement flowers.
Hydrangeas are wonderful for creating volume, but they do require plenty of water and careful conditioning. Delphiniums can bring height, while roses offer beautiful shapes and an enormous variety of colours. If you prefer a more contemporary, sculptural arrangement, varieties such as calla lilies can look fabulous when used on their own.
Don’t underestimate the impact of using one flower variety in abundance, either. A generous collection of flowers in a single colour can look incredibly sophisticated.
And if you have a limited budget, I would rather see you invest in a few really beautiful stems than buy a large quantity of flowers simply to fill the vase.
How to Build Your Centrepiece
Once you’ve chosen your flowers, the fun begins. Before you start arranging, make sure your vase is thoroughly clean and filled with fresh water. Prepare the stems by removing any foliage that would sit beneath the waterline and cutting them with clean, sharp secateurs.
I like to think about an arrangement in layers, beginning with the overall shape. Start with your taller structural stems and foliage, positioning them to establish the height and width of your design. You don’t need to make everything symmetrical. In fact, allowing the flowers to move naturally in different directions can create a far more interesting result.
Next, introduce your statement flowers. These are the blooms you really want people to notice, so give them room rather than clustering everything together. Position some slightly higher and others deeper within the arrangement to create depth.
You can then add your supporting flowers, using smaller blooms and additional foliage to connect everything together. Turn the vase as you work so you can see how the arrangement looks from different angles.
One of the best things you can do is stand back occasionally and look at what you’ve created. When you’re concentrating on individual stems, it’s easy to lose sight of the overall shape.
And if something isn’t working, take it out and try again. Floristry is a creative process, and sometimes a stem looks much better somewhere completely different from where you originally imagined it.
Don’t Forget the Fragrance
One of the loveliest things about having fresh flowers at home is the fragrance. It’s something that can make a beautiful hotel feel particularly memorable, and it’s just as effective on a smaller scale.
There are some wonderful scented flowers available, from garden roses to sweet peas and stocks, and choosing the right fragrance can add another dimension to an arrangement.
Think about where your flowers will be positioned. A scented arrangement in an entrance hall can provide a beautiful welcome whenever you come through the front door, while something more subtle might be preferable in a living room.
For a dining table, I would generally avoid anything too heavily fragranced. You want your guests to enjoy the food and wine without competing aromas from the flowers.
And if you share your home with a dog or cat, remember to check your flower choices carefully. Some varieties can be extremely dangerous to pets, particularly lilies for cats, so always let your florist know if you have animals at home.
Keep That Five-Star Feeling for Longer
If you’ve ever wondered how hotels manage to keep their flowers looking so beautiful, the answer is that there’s quite a lot happening behind the scenes.
Professional floral displays are maintained, checked and refreshed regularly. Flowers that have started to deteriorate are removed, water is replenished, and arrangements are replaced when necessary.
At home, a little attention can go a long way. Keep your vase clean, follow the care instructions for your flowers and make sure they have sufficient fresh water. Keep arrangements away from radiators, direct sunlight and ripening fruit, all of which can shorten the life of certain flowers.
Remember that different varieties have different lifespans, too. You might find that some of your flowers are still looking wonderful after others have finished. There’s no reason you can’t remove the tired stems and enjoy the remaining flowers in a smaller arrangement.
And if you find a particular combination you love, make a note of it. Over time, you’ll discover which varieties work best in your home and which arrangements you enjoy creating most.
Make Every Day an Occasion
For me, the joy of flowers has always been about what they can do to a space and how they make people feel. I’ve been fortunate enough to create some extraordinary installations over the years, from giant floral sculptures to designs that completely transform the character of a venue.
I love the theatre of it all, and I’m always looking for ways to push an idea a little further.
But I think there’s just as much pleasure to be found in bringing home a bunch of beautiful flowers and creating something for yourself.
At the end of the working day, I go home to my husband and our dogs, and I appreciate having a home that feels like ours. After spending so much time creating beautiful spaces for other people, it’s lovely to enjoy those little touches in our own surroundings, too. Although having dogs does mean being rather selective about which flowers come home with me!
You don’t need an enormous entrance hall, a hotel-sized budget or a special occasion to enjoy wonderful floral design. Perhaps it’s a beautiful arrangement on your kitchen island, a dramatic vase of branches in the hallway or something colourful on the dining table.
And if you fancy doing something a little unexpected, I say go for it. Flowers are a wonderful way to express your personality, and your home is the perfect place to experiment.
After all, who says you have to wait until you’re staying in a five-star hotel to enjoy a little floral luxury?
Main image credit: Madiow Photography
