Star Maker: We Grow Colour

Each month I choose my Star Maker from the nine featured in my column. This month it’s Sarah of artisan flower farm We Grow Colour

Introduce us to your brand

We Grow Colour is an artisan flower farm which I started in 2020 with my husband Rory. Now based in west Dorset, we specialise in growing uplifting, vibrant flowers and herbs, filled with scent and colour. We provide flowers for weddings, events and funerals alongside nationwide gift bouquets and subscriptions.We want our flowers to bring connection, not just to the seasons and to protecting our natural environment, but within our close and wider community too.

What makes you stand out from the crowd?

My background is in printed textiles, surface pattern and print-making and I bring my passion for colour, texture and form into every element of the growing process, from choosing the flowers we grow to the floral arrangements I create. Our branding has a strong, colourful, playful vibe which matches the flowers. We find that our flowers provide an amazing opportunity to open up conversations about wellbeing and we advocate for refugee communities. We work with We are Bread and Roses, teaching groups of refugee women floristry skills.

What part of the process of making your items do you enjoy the most?

Growing and working with flowers is an endlessly creative process and over the past four seasons I’ve loved getting to know the ‘personality’ of each variety, how they move, what role they play in an arrangement and how they interact with other flowers. There is something incredibly special about going outside to pick a stem that you’ve painstakingly nurtured and to create floral magic by using it in an arrangement. Being able to go and get a missing ingredient that can finish off a design is also very satisfying.

When did you realise you were a creative soul?

I’ve always loved drawing and making things, particularly out of fabric, but it wasn’t until my art foundation course that I felt like I could truly explore my creativity. Discovering that printed textiles and surface pattern design encompassed so many forms and materials was just so exciting! I also have an MA in print-making and I’ve absorbed all these different influences over a long period of time. My love of colour is definitely reflected in the flowers we grow, the clothes we wear and our home furnishings.

What’s the best feedback you’ve received about your brand or products?

We recently created sympathy flowers for a lovely family, with a real connection to flowers. To hear how much they appreciated our creative arrangements, and that they felt cared for and listened to during an incredibly difficult time just meant the world to us.

Why is sustainability so important to you personally and how you build your brand identity?

We’ve always felt very strongly about living as sustainable a life as possible and we knew that we would do all we could to grow seasonal and sustainable flowers from the get go. We use permaculture and no-dig methods and a closed-loop approach to growing. This means that we are creating fertility for our plot from our own resources, mainly in the form of our homemade compost and wood chip, supplemented by nettle and comfrey teas. We believe that healthy soil will create healthy plants and habitat for a huge range of biodiversity. Our flowers are all wrapped using sustainable/compostable materials too.

By choosing to buy from local growers, you are avoiding the carbon footprint associated with imported flowers, be that air miles, chemical fertilisers, dubious growing methods, plastic wrapping, and the use of heated greenhouses to grow flowers out of season. As we all know, it’s imperative we take as many steps as possible to support the environment alongside supporting small, local businesses.

When looking at your journey so far, what would you do differently?

There’s honestly not a lot that we would change. I was told to just go for it and that was such brilliant advice. We have discovered that flower growing is a never-ending learning process, particularly given the extremes of weather we are experiencing. So each season brings an amazing opportunity to learn, adapt and improve our methods. The great thing is that because of its cyclical nature we get the opportunity to try again next season!

What’s next for your brand? What newness should we keep a lookout for?

We are continuing to grow the wedding and event side of our business and can’t wait to share pictures from all kinds of exciting and creative projects this year. Expect lots of colour!

• See We Grow Colour at Bridport Market on the last Saturday of the month.