Fiona Pickles Holiday Gift Guide
Floral designer
Credit Belle & Beau
Fiona Pickles is a floral visionary who brings an uncompromising approach to her work, be it her creative vision or her commitment to foam-free and sustainable florals. She delights in the movement and personality of garden flowers, actively seeking out those with a gorgeous ‘path-lolling’ kink, enabling her to embrace the shapes and use of negative space that makes her work so distinctive. She teaches her art both from her Yorkshire cutting garden and at some of the most prestigious flower schools around the world. Fiona co-originated and co-hosts The Restless Creatives Podcast with fellow floral artists, Brigitte Girling and Lucy Hunter.
We are thrilled to share this wonderful list of gift ideas with a focus on British small and independent businesses.
Recommended pieces - all small, independent businesses
Choosing Keeping - journal
Extra-Thick "Composition Ledger" Sogara Yuzen Notebook, Mountains
I have a real thing for beautiful paper, books and journals and am getting a lot better at not viewing them as too beautiful to actually use! This journal from Choosing & Keeping is perfect for those found leaves or pieces of moss; your daily journal or even just to record your plans for the future. I’m a devil for making notes on loose-leaf paper, then losing the piece of paper under all the other notes my butterfly brain flits on to and I’ve found keeping them all together in a beautiful book has made a big difference. I only have to find where I left my beautiful book rather than scrabbling around through thousands of pieces of paper!
£50.00
Kettle of fish designs, Moth print on plaster
The colours in this aged looking print really make my heart sing, how beautifully this would go in my house …
£34.00
2022 Mason and painter - calendar (….and vintage shopping in Columbia Road Sunday flower market )
I could have included every piece at vintage store Mason & Painter, but because they’re all one-offs I’ve included their calendar for easy clicking! Do have a good rootle around the website though and if you get a chance to visit Columbia Road Flower Market in London on a Sunday morning make sure you call in, you won’t regret it (although your bank manager might!)
£12.00
Flower press co - flower press
This stunning limited edition flower press is a real heirloom piece and a piece of art in itself
Irish company, The Flower Press Company create handmade flower presses in two sizes, A4 and A5, in either Sycamore or Chestnut veneer - engraved with their beautiful logo of a wild hare.
170 - 220.00 euros
I would love a stay at Settle Norfolk, UK
I cannot tell you how beautiful this place is, perfect for anyone seeking a slow, sustainable break away. Consisting of exquisitely repurposed railway carriages, a boutique cabin and a canvas camp of safari tents all surrounded by ancient trees and a lake, complete with swans. Rather than me waxing lyrical for hours, just dive into the beautiful website.
“SETTLE is home to three beautifully restored vintage railway carriages, a handcrafted lakeside cabin and luxury canvas camping, blissfully set in our private Norfolk parkland.
It’s a space to reconnect with nature, switch off, and SETTLE down.”
From £280 per night
The Belsay bag by Linen Garden
I’ve collected several of Vicky’s beautiful bags over many years, all of which are among my favourite possessions. I’m lucky enough to have each with a different strap length so I can pick and choose which works that day, I also can recommend them hung on the wall, I have one in my bedroom and admire it daily.
£62.50
I’ve been collecting Sue’s ceramics for a long time, they are beautifully tactile in what I would call a matt finish (which I’m sure has a proper ceramic-based term?) From her teapots to her tiny spoons, everything is exquisitely designed and this Edie vase is amongst my favourites, I have several in every colourway.
Slipcast from coloured porcelain, unglazed and tactile on the outside, glazed inside.
£35.00
A rose is always a lovely present to give a green-fingered friend and now is the perfect time to buy them bare root. I chose Hot Chocolate for this list because it is SO unusual, a really hard to describe (and hard to photograph accurately) red. It’s so much more than red though, with a beautifully aged hue (the middle image is particularly close to its real-life colour). I can highly recommend CK Jones, having purchased many of my (ridiculously large) collections of roses from them. Initially from Harrogate Flower Show many years ago but latterly online, it’s truly fatal visiting the website – I will not be held responsible for any impulse purchases.
Oh my goodness, this had to be on my list. I wanted a specific book for a friend and Emma sourced a pre-loved copy of the book then rebound it in a beautiful floral cover. Such a beautiful and personal gift.
Bespoke, hand-bound flowery books and original antique and vintage handbound floral classics
Some favourite independent stores for endless gift ideas:
Baileys Home - a wonderful physical as well as online shop.
The most inspiring outlet for recycled, repurposed and sustainable furniture, lighting and homeware, based just outside Ross-on-Wye. I guarantee you will fall in love with this place - I have taken huge diversions in the past to visit.
Wattle & Daub - physical retail presence, creative workshops and online shop.
I’m still yet to visit this shop in person but I’m a regular purchaser online. I adore everything Gemma sells, the way she photographs and styles it, as well as her delightful dogs (two whippets and a reprobate wire fox terrier), in fact, I’m pretty much obsessed! She also offers lovely creative workshops from her shop. And a little piece of useless information, the shop is on that picture-perfect road that Cameron Diaz drives the Mini down in The Holiday!
Jeska and Dean Hearne run this other absolute go-to resource. They ship worldwide and want us all to ‘Buy Less. Buy Better.’ a really wide variety of goods to choose from, all ethically sourced and consciously crafted
The Floral Pathway
For flower lovers based in the UK, Fiona just launched a wonderful 8-month mentorship programme with Rachel of Catkin called The Floral Pathway. Fiona describes is as a “bespoke and select opportunity designed to cut through the noise and draw out what is important and unique to you. To develop your understanding about yourself and your style and to give you insights into how to mould a perfect business that will feed into your very essence.”
“This is most definitely NOT a ‘Flower School’. Think of it more as a floral awakening. of it more as a floral awakening.” Fiona Pickles
The Gardener-Florists Gift Box
An exclusively curated, limited-edition, collection of exquisite and authentic pieces, wrapped with intention and love and gathered together in a beautiful gift box. Available either as an upgrade to gifted offerings from the boutique, or as a stand-alone gift in its own right.
£75 PLUS P&P (UK ONLY)