David Morley, a florist who opened his shop in lockdown has gone back to his first days in business for inspiration for his exhibit at Chelsea Flower Show. Who runs The Plant Workshop, is exhibiting at this year’s show as part of the houseplant studios.
The show gets underway 24th of May and is on until 28th of May. His team has put together an exhibit showcasing easy-to-look-after plants to improve mental health and wellbeing while working from home. The 39-year-old, from Stockton, said: “We started our business in lockdown and we wanted to go back to our roots really. When we look at how people are now working from home, they are buying plants and really wanting something that will help with their wellbeing. People don’t want to sit and stare at a wall, they want greenery. Their whole focus is on materials and textures but also plants that are easy to care for.
Mr Morley had to delay the opening of his shop due to the first lockdown in 2020, which came not long after he decided to leave his job as an NHS dietician. Since then, The Plant Workshop has grown and has shops in Billingham, Northallerton and in Fenwicks, in Newcastle, as well as an online one shipping plants across the UK. He put together the exhibition alongside his Fenwicks team of Meg Holtom and Kirsty Emery and it also features candles and home fragrances made by his husband, Steve Vernon in Hartburn. They will find out later this week whether they have won. Mr Morley added: “We didn’t do it to get a medal bit we wanted to show how easy it is to improve your space, whatever budget you have or how much or how little space you have.We have 4m by 3m so it wasn’t massive but we managed to create a wonderful space really. The atmosphere is really exciting. Everyone is really happy with what they have created."
Some of the other designs in the houseplants studio section include a 1980s disco theme, a sitting room design and one featuring audio of the noises that plants make when they grow.
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