Sustainable Flower Bouquets, The Art Of Mireia Abras

I was born and spent my early childhood in a town in Baix Empordà (Girona), where my grandparents raised me, who were simple people, with a simple life. .. and I believe that those years in contact with nature in a daily way impacted me deeply and they had a lot to do with my current professional vocation as a stylist and floral decorator.

My grandfather was dedicated to ceramics, specifically looking for color with pigments, earth and a lot of patience. She also had a garden, where she grew vegetables in the spring, which my grandmother cooked daily.

I was imbued with the natural spirit, without complications, not as a fashion or a style, but from the authentic. Also from the spirit of trades such as potters and antique dealers, thanks to my grandfather who took me with him to many artist-artisan workshops.

I witnessed the long process of creating objects or sculptures from natural materials such as clay or wood.

Flowers, the most beautiful material to decorate

Due to life circumstances I left town for the city. I also love the city! I dedicated myself to the world of window dressing, advertising styling and event decoration. But I always wanted to start my own project, I wanted to be able to decide freely how to do my work.

After a few intense years, in which I combined several jobs with a lot of effort and fatigue, I decided to turn my life around. It was then that by chance I came into contact with flowers, not as a florist, but as a new material with which to work to decorate and set spaces.

There is nothing more beautiful than flowers. So I connected again with the natural. I recovered childhood emotions and an appreciation for quiet, artisan work with natural materials.

Choosing the best flowers

At present I have my own small studio-workshop in Barcelona. When I started buying flowers I found that many were imported ,

Behind a simple bouquet hides an industry that grows flowers on one continent, puts them on airplanes and sells them on another. Toxic pesticides are used on crops, which mainly affect workers, and airplanes are an unsustainable transport.

They are good reasons, related to health and the environment, to look for suppliers and florists who work in a respectful and sustainable way with nearby species and producers.

More sustainable flowers

Over time I met small local growers to collaborate with.

I found some that cultivate the flower in a more traditional way, using products that are respectful with the environment, with organic fertilizers. They decided to do this type of cultivation for their health and because their flowers have a better after-sales result. You can even eat these flowers!

Little by little I had access to the space and I saw that they do not use herbicides and that in their crops there is a great variety of flowers, trees and rustic roses that grow outdoors, along with others that grow inside the greenhouses.

For me it was like coming home, both for the landscape style and plant material, and for the philosophy involved in working the land in this way. Natural and simple, which does not mean easy or simple.

I use locally grown flowers, seasonal and therefore more sustainable. I also met other suppliers who are licensed to collect greens directly from the field (elements that accompany the flowers in the compositions).

And when I buy aromatic plants I try to make them organically grown: while they decorate they are edible!