Always Learning
How Classes Can Show the Way and Change Your Life
My woodworking teacher’s name was L. Woods. She was no joke, but the name still makes me smile—first because of Legally Blonde (this woman was neither perky nor pink) and second because Leah Woods was into, well, wood. But here I am, Martha DeFlorio the florist.
Leah was petite, with red pixie-cut hair. She was among the strictest of all my college instructors: she was a tough grader and her attendance rules were savage—three minutes late to her class meant an unexcused absence. In the first weeks of class, I was extremely anxious not only about my teacher’s expectations but also about working with powerful machinery and sharp tools. Band saws, joiners, planers, and chop saws filled me with fear and I had visions of making a big mistake like, you know, losing a finger. Leah’s assistant was, in fact, missing part of his finger.
But something had called me to enroll in this class, and as the semester progressed I slowly became accustomed to the woodshop and the machinery, and an interesting thing started to happen.
I absolutely fell in love with design. The whole process. Being presented with a challenge, thinking of an idea as the solution. Sketching that idea, pencil to paper. Making a list of materials and working with budgets. Picking out the wood from the lumber yard. Cutting, measuring—“measure twice, cut once” in Leah’s words—glueing, sanding. Soon, I was in the woodshop on the weekends, working on my pieces late into the evening. The Service Building at the University of New Hampshire was open at all hours of the day and night, and I found myself getting lost in the hours spent there, especially the time I spent sanding. I imagine that many of my college worries were filed away in a mental filing cabinet during the sanding hours.
Taking this woodworking class was my “aha!” moment, the moment I realized I needed to work with my hands. After I faced my fears and got over my hurdles with the instructor, I quickly gained a priceless insight and direction. I knew that I liked woodworking, but I also knew I didn’t want to make it a career. For the next few years after that class, I searched for the thing that lit me up in the way woodworking had that semester in college. Eventually, I found that lit-up feeling again in my work with flowers.
I share this story as an example of how curiosity in one area can lead you to fulfillment in the next. In my case, woodworking led me to flowers.
Into the Growth Zone
Not only can a class, lesson, or course in one area send you to surprising places, but it can enrich your existing practices and even your business in amazing ways. Over the last five years, I’ve prioritized art classes, particularly drawing and painting, and I often target certain windows in the year where I know I can focus on building those new skills. For anyone—not just entrepreneurs or so-called “creatives”—stepping out of your comfort zone and gaining experience with different materials and formats is a powerful tool for growth.
Painting still life has opened up the way I think about color and has sharpened the way I design my flower arrangements. Studying color theory and all its components—hue, value, intensity, saturation, tint, shade—through painting and drawing has given me a better understanding of color and how I select flowers. For example, close values make shapes seem to flatten and blend together, while contrasting values create separation and make certain shapes stand out.
In my drawing class, I worked in greyscale and learned to create texture using pencil—there’s so much texture that you can create in a drawing with shading, lines, and shapes. This impacts how I think about flowers and my floral recipes—how different lines and shapes can create such depth in an arrangement. I’m naturally drawn to color, and my drawing class has really helped me to focus on being more selective when I buy flowers, by using fewer hues and enriching arrangements with value.
I’m turning forty this September and as a present to myself, I’m going on a retreat to paint in France for a week, and the retreat is hosted by a teacher I met in one of my local art classes. We never know where these learning experiences will take us.
It’s humbling to engage with people who are really good at their craft, it’s a reminder of what we’re capable of even if we’re scared or intimidated when we get started, it connects us with other people and shows us it’s okay—even beautiful—to be a beginner.
In this Together
This spring, I’m teaching a private floral design class to a woman named Elise. Elise will travel to my home studio for two-hour sessions where I’ll teach her how to make centerpieces, bouquets, and statement arrangements. As the owner of Made Floral, I’ve taught these things to many employees over the years, but the kind of teaching I’ll do with people like Elise, teaching outside of the “work” context, is rewarding and valuable in a whole different way.
I love the excitement from my students when they show up to a private lesson. Part of my job is to get my students to feel comfortable and confident in working with a new medium, this very thing encourages and inspires me to try new things. When I teach a private class, we aren’t working with a timeline to get orders out the door. We set aside the time to share, learn, and explore.
I tell my students that we learn the rules only to break them later. I show my students the technicalities and mechanics of floral design to produce a beautiful and successful product, then I encourage my students to take it a step further to add their own creativity to their pieces. Watching their creativity encourages me to remain open to new possibilities and expression in my own work.
Beyond the learning experience, I’ve built some wonderful relationships with former students, like Morgan, who took lessons from me online and now takes orders for weddings and events and has a flower subscription service in Michigan—I even hire her for freelance help when I’m in Michigan. She’s helped me on events like the work I did for the NFL Draft and the Rocket Mortgage Classic last year. It’s an honor to be trusted as a teacher and a privilege to watch someone blossom as a florist in their own right.
One of my favorite ways to teach is through in-person floral workshops, which are typically hosted at retail locations or at private events like bridal showers as a way for people to get together socially and create something with their hands. For teachers and students alike, I can’t recommend workshops enough. Aside from the joy of watching people bond and gain confidence over flowers, it’s undeniably good for business; I get my business out in the community and the community notices.
Learning with Made Floral
Right now, I have multiple summer workshops and classes planned that will be geared towards making terrariums, statement floral arrangements, ceremony structures, and more. I’m also available for more one-on-one private floral design classes in July and August, flower workshops for private get-togethers, and other ways of sharing my craft with you. And, of course, this whole newsletter is really a fun educational project for me; I love what I do and I want to share it while I keep on learning, too.
Here’s a list of my upcoming workshop dates. We’re adding two other workshops this summer, a Summer Dahlias Workshop and a Statement Floral Arranging Class, and we’re finalizing those dates soon!
May 29th from 6-7:30pm: Flower Workshop at Jenni Kayne, Greenwich CT
June 5th from 6-7:30pm: Terrarium Workshop at Jenni Kayne, Westport CT
August 8th from 2-5pm: Floral Design Class: Ceremony Arch, Black Rock, CT
What classes have changed your life? What are you looking forward to learning more about in the future?
Video from a Flower Arranging workshop from Spring 2024 at the Jenni Kayne store in Westport, Connecticut.
You’re absolutely right, when I think back in my past, it’s obvious that I should also have pursued a career using my hands and utilising my design skills. I finally got there in the end, albeit 30 years later. Also I love the sound of private lessons. I’ve never heard of them before, however it makes perfect sense.