Suppose I were to define a contemporary florist. A florist was a florist and is a florist even today, one could argue. But what’s the value of flowers in an urban environment? I wonder while stuck in traffic. Lots of florists still survive with their kiosks colorfully, hopefully scenting, popping up in the streets amidst chaos. What’s your favorite flower? Nobody asks you that anymore, I reckon. I do ask myself though, but I’m not gonna tell the answer. I’ve always dreamed of being a florist. I think I still do, but it’s probably out of fascination with such a job. There are florists and then there are florists. When I first discovered Fjura, I was still contemplating the value of flowers. Fjura means “flower” in the Maltese language, as its founder Simone Gooch asserts. A floral styling studio born in 2005 in Sydney, Melbourne, and now a London-based ambitious florist, Fjura crafts floral installations which suddenly show up in the studio’s street-facing window, showing that no two days are ever the same for them. Sculptural, living objects, flowers are the bread of aesthetes and unerring communicators, yet they are attracted to Fjura’s window like a moth to light, a bee to pollen. Flowers also feed humans through their unsaid meanings. A contemporary florist is an ultimate communicator.
A drift on contemporary florists: Fjura
A drift on contemporary florists: Fjura
Words by Ilaria Sponda
Photography by Simone Gooch
Published on June 17, 2024
Culture